While Australia and Western countries reacted with harsh sanctions against Ukraine, Russian citizens were stuck in Bali’s tourist areas as they could not withdraw cash.
After Vladimir Putin’s invasion, many Russian banks withdrew from the international payment system SWIFT, and Visa and Mastercard from Russia.
This has made a few Russian tourists vacationing on the islands in Indonesia unable to withdraw money from ATMs.
Tourist Konstantin Ivanov, 27, said that he had not been able to withdraw money for days. “This created a huge problem for us… We’ve been completely deprived of our financial resources. It’s like they’re completely frozen and we can never use them here.’
THEY CAN’T ACCESS THEIR FUNDS
Russian travelers are now scrambling for cash, as digital payment options have become unusable.
Western sanctions have prevented Russians from using SWIFT, the global payment system used by more than 11,000 banking institutions and in more than 200 countries.
Visa and Mastercard also blocked multiple Russian financial institutions from their networks this week and disabled the debit cards of millions of users.
These sanctions have made it nearly impossible for Russians and even some travelers to access their funds.
‘WE ALL NEED PEACE’
Russian citizens in Bali agree that war in Europe is not the solution.
‘The people of our country do not need a war, and the people of Ukraine do not need it. “No one wanted this war,” he said. ‘We all need peace.’ he added.