One day after Ericsson announced it was pulling out of Russia, Nokia announced the same move, saying it would suspend all business in the country.

“It has been clear for Nokia since the early days of the invasion of Ukraine that continuing our presence in Russia would not be possible. Over the last weeks we have suspended deliveries, stopped new business and are moving our limited R&D activities out of Russia. We can now announce we will exit the Russian market,” the company stated in a press release.

Nokia attempted to downplay the financial hit from the move, noting it would see an approximate $108 million impact on its first-quarter financials. This is similar to the approximately $95 million "impairment" Ericsson expects from its similar move.  

“Considering the strong demand we see in other regions – we do not expect this decision to impact our ability to achieve our 2022 outlook provided in the Nokia financial report for Q4 and full year 2021," the vendor added.

The company stated that it was taking a “responsible course of action” in its exit by providing support to “maintain existing networks and applying for licenses to enable this support in compliance with current sanctions.”

These steps follow sanctions imposed on the country by “ensuring the continued flow of information and access to the internet which provides outside perspectives to the Russian people.”

Nokia has faced scrutiny for its business in Russia after The New York Times recently reported on that the company manufactured, installed, or serviced equipment or systems for Russia’s lawful intercept system known as SORM. The company denied the claims in a statement posted on its website saying it is “one of many network infrastructure providers who supplied the Russian market.”

“The article claims Nokia networks play an active part in enabling SORM equipment. This is incorrect. Like any other network infrastructure suppliers, Nokia is required to ensure that the networking products we sell have passive capability to interface with lawful intercept equipment of law enforcement agencies. This is governed by internationally recognized standards, as well as local regulation,” stated the company.

Nokia joins 600-plus other companies that have already pulled out of Russia, including Intel, which announced it suspended business in the country on April 5.