The US sanctions did not affect the ban on imports of smartphones or laptops into Russia, but Washington Post trade lawyers said a number of companies have decided to completely suspend their supply to Russia, regardless of whether certain products are violated.

How much has equipment exports to Russia dropped?

In March alone, compared to February, the supply of technological products to Russia decreased by more than half. More statistics look like this:

• laptop shipments dropped 40%;
• smartphones – 66%;
• telecommunications equipment – 98%.

In general, the decrease in equipment supply by country is as follows:

• Export from USA to Russia decreased 86%;
• from South Korea – 62%;
• From Finland – 60%.

As for US sanctions, they require all global companies to limit the supply of equipment to Russia if they use US equipment or software to manufacture chips.

Tech giants are leaving Russia

Apple, Samsung, DJI and others have officially announced the suspension of supply to Russia. Xiaomi and Huawei declined to answer questions about import restrictions, but the Financial Times reported a significant drop in smartphone shipments to Russia in March by Chinese companies Xiaomi, Oppo and Huawei.

As it will be remembered, it was decided to legalize parallel imports after Russia’s large-scale war in Ukraine started and some sanctions were imposed. In fact, Russia has legalized the importation of “gray” products into the country. This has led to the fact that the cost of computer equipment and electronics for the end user may increase by 20-50% in the near future.

And Russia has serious problems with some categories of goods. These include premium home appliances, flagship smartphones, smartwatches and game consoles. The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade reports that only equipment such as:

• refrigerators,
• washing machines,
• Russian smartphones
• electric kettles,
• televisions,
• microwave ovens,
• gas and electric stoves with ovens.