Russia gets the cold shoulder at the biggest mobile phone show during the Ukraine war

March 2, 2022: -Russia got an icy reception at Mobile World Congress, the largest trade show for mobile technology in the world.

GSMA, the industry body that runs MWC, put out a statement condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine over the weekend. The Russian Pavilion, a stand where countries exhibit their local tech scene, would be barred from the event.

“The GSMA condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Mats Granryd, director general of GSMA, said in his opening keynote on Monday.

The organization said “the situation is moving fast,” but that it would follow “all government sanctions and policies which result from this situation.”

“Security for the event is reviewed and adjusted as information emerges,” the GSMA said.

Nick Reed, CEO of Vodafone, voiced support for those affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, “Our thoughts go out to everyone affected by the war.”

“With the backdrop of the Ukraine war, it’s a conference such as this that reminds me of the importance of global sectors and communities such as ours working together to advance society,” Reed told MWC attendees on Monday.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine started and was swiftly condemned by government leaders across the world. The U.S. and its allies have announced punitive sanctions targeting the banking system and even President Vladimir Putin himself of Russia.

“GSMA had to respond and had to take decisive action,” Paolo Pescatore, tech, media, and telecom analyst at PP Foresight, told CNBC on Monday. “They certainly did that as a starting point.”

The CEOs of China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom were notably silent on the topic of Ukraine on Monday, though their keynotes appeared to be pre-recorded. Neither the Chinese telecoms firms nor the GSMA was immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

China’s Foreign Ministry in the previous week refused to call the Russian attack on Ukraine an “invasion” instead of deflecting the blame to the U.S. European telco execs were more vocal on the matter.