Russia's top mobile operator MTS defended its decision to allow China's Huawei to build out its 5G networks but will continue to work with other firms, the company's CEO said Friday.

In an interview with CNBC's Geoff Cutmore at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), MTS CEO Alexey Kornya said Huawei is "fully qualified" to provide infrastructure for Russia's next-generation wireless networks. The statement directly contracts warnings from U.S. officials that Huawei's 5G software and equipment poses a national security threat.

"Every country has its own right and capabilities to identify whether that or different types of the equipment represent certain concerns," Kornya said. "In this sense Huawei is fully qualified to be in our networks."

Kornya added MTS is also working with Sweden's Ericsson and Finland's Nokia on 5G technology saying "all three major vendors are represented in our network." Huawei is the world's largest provider of telecommunications equipment, followed by Nokia and Ericsson, according to research firm Dell'Oro Group.

"In business thinking you always balance between vendors and you don't want to fall into dependency from one vendor," he said.