Revolut CEO says Russia-Ukraine conflict is “totally abhorrent”

The CEO of Revolut, Nikolay Storonsky, has condemned the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. The Russian-born billionaire has called upon a peaceful end of the conflict between the two countries.

Revolut CEO condemns Russia-Ukraine conflict

Storonsky, whose father is Ukrainian, has said that he had private sentiments about this conflict and was finally going to make this known to the public.

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In an open letter that was published on March 1, the executive said, “I would like to make clear, publicly, what I’ve felt privately from day one: war is never the answer.” He also added that the conflict was ”wrong and totally abhorrent.”

Vlad Yatsenko, Revolut’s co-founder, had already gone public to speak out against the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, who ordered his troops to invade Ukraine late last week.

Storonsky, who has delayed in making his public statement on the conflict, said that he had to consider the welfare of the company’s staff based in Russia. Revolut has over 2150 staff based in both Russia and Ukraine.

“Storonsky said,

They have done nothing wrong; they have simply helped build Revolut, supporting their own families through their hard work, just like their colleagues in Ukraine (or London or New York or Sydney or Mumbai, or anywhere else in the world where our people are based). I was, and remain, mindful of them in all of my actions.

Tech firms leaving Russia

The pressure of the Western sanctions imposed against Russia has forced global tech firms to discontinue their services in the country. Credit card giant firms, Visa and Mastercard, announced on Monday that they will block the access of Russian banks to their network.

Other fintech remittance firms, including Zeps, Wise, TransferGo and Remitly, have also announced the suspension of their services from Russia. Revolut is yet to announce the discontinuation of its services in Russia.

However, cryptocurrency exchange firms have denied the request of Ukraine to unilaterally ban all Russian users from their platforms. These exchanges have stated that such a ban would beat the logic of why cryptocurrencies existed in the first place.