A blow to America .. Russia offers a gift to Huawei

The US administration banned Huawei from operating in the United States because of alleged espionage and asked its allies to do the same, but Moscow launched the red carpet for the Chinese technology company, allowing it to develop 5G networks in Russia.

Analysts say the move is a show of solidarity with Beijing against the United States and to bring high-speed Internet to Russian technology users.

This month, Huawei opened the first test area for the 5G network in Moscow in partnership with Russia's main telecom operator, MTS, to spread the service to the rest of the capital.

Moscow authorities say the network will become part of the city's natural infrastructure in the next few years.

The Chinese company is a leader in 5G networks compared to many Western countries, and Russia plans to deploy 5G technology in all its major cities by 2024.

When Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Russia in June at the height of Washington's conflict with Huawei, Russia's MTS signed a contract with the Chinese company.

"We have been working in Russia for 22 years. Thank you to our partners. We are working well here," said Zhao Li, chief executive of Huawei in Russia.

Huawei, a world leader in 5G technology, intends to “pioneer the development of 6G technology” in the future.

Huawei is also the second largest smartphone company in the world. According to a source in Russia's fifth-generation research community, Huawei is the largest investor in the development of mobile technologies in the country, with "the largest research laboratory for all operators" in Moscow.

Huawei currently employs 400 people in Moscow and 150 in St. Petersburg in mobile phone research and development.

It aims to recruit 500 more people by the end of the year and 1,000 more over five years, according to the business daily Vedomosti.

Although experts believe that Russia's welcome to Huawei does not mean that the Chinese company alone in the race to develop 5G networks in Russia.

However, Russia's immediate intervention to provide the Arora operating system to the Chinese giant as an alternative to Google's Android system after the US ban on Huawei, is likely to be the Chinese company to obtain large operating contracts for Russian 5G stations, if not because of technology Maybe for political reasons.

According to a partner in technology consulting firm Bering Point, Sylvain Chevalier, the goal is "to create an economic front against the United States."

Russia and China are trying to break away from the US monopoly on smartphone operating systems, he said. As for the dangers of espionage that Washington has warned, Russia is very concerned.

The head of the Wireless Network Laboratory at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Evgeny Khorov, says that while using foreign mobile phones, the risks faced by the Russian government with access to a foreign government data are equal, there is no significant difference for Russia if Huawei, Ericsson or another company.

“Many people use Android phones that have been designed by Google, does that mean that Google has access to all the data? Yes of course, so what's the difference between Huawei and Google in this case for Russia?”