PayPal Accidentally Sanctions Russian Streets With Crimean Names

By The Moscow Times

April 15, 2015

PayPal responded Wednesday to reports that a technical glitch had prevented some Russian users from sending or receiving payments if their street's names were associated with the annexed region of Crimea.

"We have conducted a quick check of the situation with transactions and, where necessary, have implemented changes," PayPal Russia's press office said in an e-mailed statement.

After Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine last year, U.S. tech firms were forced to cease services to the Black Sea peninsula in compliance with U.S. sanctions on the region.

A technical glitch on PayPal reportedly extended the sanctions to some unfortunate Russian users as well.

A user on LiveJournal, a popular blogging platform in Russia, wrote last week that PayPal had refused to process a small transaction by a user living on Sevastopol Prospekt in Moscow.

Sevastopol is the name of a port city in Crimea.

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