Huawei disbands enterprise business team in Russia in further pullback amid Western sanctions, local media reports
- Enterprise Business Group division is responsible for selling data storage systems and telecoms equipment to corporate clients
- Around 2,000 employees at the unit will be asked to transfer to Huawei’s offices in other CIS countries
Chinese telecommunications and smartphone giant Huawei Technologies Co is closing down its enterprise business unit in Russia in a further retreat that affects 2,000 jobs, according to a report by Moscow business newspaper Kommersant.
Huawei’s Enterprise Business Group division in Russia, responsible for selling data storage systems and telecommunications equipment to corporate clients, will be disbanded on January 1, according to a Kommersant report on Monday, which cited an anonymous source.
The move has been made to avoid the risk of secondary sanctions on the telecoms giant, which is already subject to US trade sanctions, as the systems and equipment could be used by the state, according to the report.
The Shenzhen-based firm declined to comment.
Around 2,000 employees working for the unit will be asked to transfer to Huawei’s offices in other Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries or be laid off, but the company will retain the unit’s current office in Moscow as it prepares “to return if active hostilities in Ukraine stop”, the report cited the source as saying.
Huawei’s research and development centres in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Novosibirsk will not be impacted by the decision and will continue to work on 5G, computer vision, and virtual reality projects among other technologies, the paper said.