Huawei isolates operations in Russia and Belarus from other CIS countries to reduce sanctions risks

The Chinese telecommunications company ​​Huawei is splitting its division that handles CIS countries into two parts, separating its operations in Russia and Belarus from those in the rest of the region, the Russian newspaper Vedomosti reported on Tuesday.

Until now, a single Moscow-based division has handled Huawei's operations in Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Sources close to the company told Vedomosti that the new Russian and Belarusian division will remain in Moscow, while the other division will be headquartered in Bahrain.

According to experts who spoke to Vedomosti, Huawei considers Russia and Belarus to be “countries with a high level of sanctions risks in which the procedure for making deals will [now] differ from [other] CIS countries.”