Huawei has signed a contract to develop Russian 5G networks for mobile provider MTS over the next two years.

The deal was signed on the sidelines of a Kremlin meeting between Russian and Chinese leaders Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

Xi said, according to NPR: "Protectionism and unilateral approaches are on the rise, and a policy of force and hegemonism is increasingly taking hold."

Details of the 5G deal have not been released but, given the backdrop, it is a boost to Huawei and its symbolism is clear. MTS is the largest Russian mobile provider with over 30 per cent market share. It is either number one or two in Armenia, Belarus and Ukraine. It also has sizeable fixed-line internet and cloud services businesses.

In other news, Arm founder Dr Herman Hauser has hit out at Trump's ban on Huawei, warning it would have damaging long-term impacts. Arm has a facility in Austin, Texas, and ordered staff to stop working with the Chinese comms kit provider in mid-May.

Hauser said that although the short-term impact of the ban will be felt by Huawei, in the longer term it will also be "incredibly damaging for Arm, Google and others – and the American technology industry".

He said the unilateral ban was a very serious issue of national sovereignty which cannot be compromised. He added there is little option but to comply, though companies around the world are busy removing American intellectual property from their products to avoid becoming pawns in US trade wars in the future.

Hauser told Business Weekly: "The solution is to design out American IP and stand on our own two feet unless we want to become vassals to the ESG (Extremely Stable Genius) as Trump describes himself.

"Every company in the world must now be thinking, 'Do I want to be in a position where the American president can shut me down?' When I talk to people in the industry, they are being very careful about not buying American products."

Bloomberg reported that UK officials are scuttling across the Atlantic to try and get clarity from US spooks on the supposed intelligence risks of Huawei which, the newswire reported, the UK was not warned about before the ban was announced.

The ban does not come into play until August. ®