Ericsson Suspends All Russia Operations Indefinitely

Swedish community gear maker Ericsson mentioned Monday that it was suspending all of its Russian operations over the warfare in Ukraine for the foreseeable future.

The telecom big already introduced in late February that it might cease all deliveries to Russia following Moscow’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine.

“In the light of recent events and of European Union sanctions, the company will now suspend its affected business with customers in Russia indefinitely,” Ericsson mentioned in a press release.

The firm added that it was “engaging with customers and partners regarding the indefinite suspension of the affected business.”

“The priority is to focus on the safety and well-being of Ericsson employees in Russia and they will be placed on paid leave,” it mentioned.

Hundreds of Western companies starting from Ikea to Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs, and McDonald’s have stopped operations within the nation for the reason that invasion, with French banking group Societe Generale asserting Monday it was promoting its stake in Russia’s Rosbank.

Ericsson has round 600 staff in Russia, and is a “major supplier to the largest operator MTS and the fourth largest operator Tele2,” an organization spokeswoman advised AFP, including that along with Ukraine, Russia accounts for lower than two p.c of income.

As a consequence, the gear maker mentioned it might report a provision for SEK 900 million (roughly Rs. 722 crore) for the primary quarter of 2022 for “impairment of assets and other exceptional costs,” although no workers redundancy prices have been included.

Ericsson is because of publish its first quarter earnings on April 14.