Russian press reports indicated that some managers were relocated to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan
Chinese vendor Huawei decided to relocate part of its staff from Russia to central Asia amid fears of potential sanctions from the United States, according to Russian press reports.
Huawei began relocating Chinese and Russian managers and heads of divisions to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, local newspaper Vedomosti reported.
“Some of these employees are managers and heads of Huawei divisions from China, who were sent to Russia at the beginning of the year, but were subsequently redirected to other CIS countries,” said a source with knowledge of the matter.
The report also noted that some Russian managers were “sent on long-term business trips” to these countries, Vedomosti quoted a source as saying, with an unidentified Huawei executive in Russia confirming the information.
According to the report, Huawei decided to relocate some of its employees amid fears of sanctions from Western countries due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Huawei clearly hears U.S. signals and is building two-tiered infrastructure: relocating all operations to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) while delivering goods to Russia via parallel imports,” Mikhail Burmistrov, head of market research firm Infoline-Analytics, told Vedomosti.
Huawei had temporarily suspended new orders and halted new staff recruitment in Russia earlier this year, according to previous reports.
Swedish vendor Ericsson had recently announced its official exit from Russia due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The vendor suspended its business in Russia indefinitely in April of this year, but it recently told its Russian unit that it will be shut down and employees will be fired by the end of 2022.
Ericsson is estimated to have a 20% share of the Russian telecom equipment market, and MTS and Tele2 are two known Russian operators with major Ericsson contracts prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Nokia, which announced its exit from Russia in April 2022, recently told Mobile World Live that this move was “right on-track” and expects to shut down its Russian operations by the end of the year.
“By the end of the year, the vast majority of our employees in Russia will have moved on from Nokia, and we have vacated all of our offices,” said the Nokia spokesperson. “We will retain a formal presence in the country until the legal closure is completed.”
Huawei is now the only major international telecom equipment vendor with plans to continue operating in Russia. Additionally, the state-owned vendor Rostec is also expected to produce domestic equipment to support mobile operators that had previously relied on international suppliers.
