Sanctions prevent Twitch from paying Russian streamers
James Batchelor
Editor-in-Chief
Tuesday 8th March 2022
Twitch
Twitch has ceased all payments to streamers with Russian bank accounts in compliance with economic sanctions against the nation.
The European Commission, United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Canada have all imposed sanctions that prevent businesses and people from engaging in transactions with specific Russian individuals, companies and institutions, including the country's leading banks.
As a result, Russian streamers are reporting they are not receiving payments from Twitch, with an email to popular streamer Alexey 'Jesus AVGN' Gubanov being shared via Twitter.
The email, which appears to have been translated into english by a third party, tells Gubanov that payments to the financial institution linked to his account have been blocked as a result of these sanctions.
It also notes that a payment method Gubanov uses for purchasing may have also been disabled, and requests alternative payment details.
GamesIndustry.biz understands the site actively reached out to all streamers affected by this in order to alert them to the impact of the sanctions.
Twitch issued the official statement to us, which says: "Twitch complies with economic sanctions imposed by the United States and other governments, and is complying with those imposed in response to the situation in Ukraine.
"These sanctions may limit or impact your access to payouts, ability to monetize your stream, and / or financially support other creators."
The statement concludes: "We appreciate how frustrating and difficult this is and would like to reassure you that if you can't provide an alternative financial institution, we will do our best to pay you revenues you have earned as soon as we are
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