On June 6, Chinese tech giant Huawei secured a deal to build Russia’s first 5G wireless network. With the recent US backlash against the company, what does that mean for the future of 5G?

At this point, you might be aware that the US has also been urging allies to restrict or even ban the use of Huawei equipment in their 5G networks, explicitly stating that Beijing may use the sensitive data infrastructure for spying. Of course, Huawei has denied that its products pose a national security risk.

A few American cities have been implementing 5G technologies, but many analysts believe the Huawei restrictions risk slowing down countrywide adoption. Outside of the US, to buy or not to buy from Huawei is becoming highly political. And such could possibly create a modern-day information driven iron curtain.

“Huawei inks deal with Russia’s MTS to develop 5G technology” by CNBC, YouTube.

The deal between Russia’s MTS (the country’s largest wireless network) and Huawei, will “promote 5G technology and launch pilot 5G networks in Russia in 2019–2020,” Huawei said in a statement provided to Business Insider.

The agreement came on the first day of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three-day trip to Russia to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. As a sign of unity and respect, the signing ceremony “took place at the intergovernmental level” in the Kremlin whilst the two leaders looked on.

Evidently, it could be a major accelerator of the new “cold war” between Washington and Beijing, which has seen the US government put heavy restrictions on American tech companies when it comes to collaborations with Chinese firms. The two sides have imposed retaliatory trade tariffs against one another other.

Let’s put it this way: it’s a different kind of Internet that East and West are currently brewing. It definitely looks more closed than the idealistic iteration we came to love in the 1990's.