China's Huawei scales back Russia operations to avoid US sanctions
“A Chinese telecom giant has suspended Russian operations and furloughed employees as sanctions bite: reports” 13 April 2022
A major Chinese telecommunications equipment maker is scaling back its operations in Russia to avoid getting hit by US sanctions related to the ongoing war in Ukraine, two Russian-language news outlets reported.
Huawei builds mobile network infrastructure and manufactures consumer devices such as smartphones, laptops, and fitness trackers. Its corporate website for Russia shows that it has one office in Moscow.
Since the end of March, Huawei has stopped taking on new contracts to supply network equipment to Russian operators, according to an April 1 article from Russian news outlet Izvestia, quoting anonymous sources from Huawei's business partners.
Huawei then asked Russian employees to go on mandatory leave for the month of April, while Chinese employees could continue working from its offices in Russia, Forbes Russia reported on Saturday, citing unnamed sources from companies that work with Huawei. In addition, the Chinese maker also let go of some marketing employees, said the article. "There are no orders, so why should people go to the office?" a source told Forbes.
But these plans to scale back operations may only be temporary, as Huawei wants to see how it can remain in the Russian market while avoiding US sanctions, the two outlets noted.
Huawei declined to comment when contacted by Insider. [...]