Those guys know they can cripple the Russian commerce and they will not pay a cent more.
I wouldn't put it as dramatically. Visa and Master Card are only really important when trading with abroad by tourists or Internet commerce. I don't know what the numbers are, but I can't imagine that being a large segment.
Visa and MC have almost 90% of all card transactions in Russia.
According to the Russian central bank, the volume of card transactions in Russia reached 7.3 trillion rubles ($204 billion) in the 4th quarter of 2013. If the two U.S. companies processed 90 percent of that volume, about $2 billion per day,
Well , it does seems like a lot to me.
Also :
"We have 100 million cards there (in Russia) and it is not in anyone's best interest, inclusive of the Russians, to make those cards not available to their own citizens," Pollitt said.
This was visa alone.