On February 24th, Russia invaded Ukraine in an internationally condemned act of aggression
Following international sanctions, Ericsson announced that it has halted operations in Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine. The pause, said the vendor, will last “indefinitely.”
In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in an internationally condemned act of aggression. The act, which created Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II, has led many companies across nearly every industry to pull out of Russia, including — but certainly not limited to — Ford, Airbnb, Netflix, Deloitte, BP, Visa and Airbus.
“Ericsson is engaging with customers and partners regarding the indefinite suspension of the affected business,” the company said in a statement. “The priority is to focus on the safety and well-being of Ericsson employees in Russia and they will be placed on paid leave.”
Though brief, the statement also reported that Ericsson will, as a consequence, record a SEK900 million ($95.5 million) provision in its first quarter 2022 for impairment of assets and other exceptional costs.
Ericsson has worked with several Russian operators, and two years ago, signed a deal with MTS to help it prepare its network for 5G. This deal made Ericsson the single largest supplier of mobile network infrastructure to MTS.
Nokia made a similar announcement in early March, suspending its deliveries to Russia for an undisclosed amount of time and calling the situation “complex” and rapidly evolving.