"When Nokia Pulled Out of Russia, a Vast Surveillance System Remained", 28 March 2022

Nokia said ... that it would stop its sales in Russia and denounced the invasion of Ukraine. But [it] didn’t mention what it was leaving behind: equipment and software connecting the government’s most powerful tool for digital surveillance to the nation’s largest telecommunications network.

The tool was used to track supporters of the Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny. Investigators said it had intercepted the phone calls of a Kremlin foe who was later assassinated. Called the System for Operative Investigative Activities, or SORM, it is also most likely being employed at this moment as President Vladimir V. Putin culls and silences antiwar voices inside Russia.

For more than five years, Nokia provided equipment and services to link SORM to Russia’s largest telecom service provider, MTS... While Nokia does not make the tech that intercepts communications…it work[s] with state-linked Russian companies to plan, streamline and troubleshoot the SORM system’s connection to the MTS network. Russia’s main intelligence service… uses SORM to listen in on phone conversations, intercept emails and text messages, and track other internet communications.

Andrei Soldatov, an expert on Russian intelligence and digital surveillance ... said that without the company’s involvement in SORM, “it would have been impossible to make such a system.”

Nokia... said that under Russian law, it was required to make products that would allow a Russian telecom operator to connect to the SORM system. Nokia also said that it did not manufacture, install or service SORM equipment. The company said it follows international standards... that cover government surveillance.

“Nokia does not have an ability to control, access or interfere with any lawful intercept capability in the networks which our customers own and operate,” it said in a statement. MTS did not respond to requests for comment.