Nokia helped the Russian authorities build a huge espionage system

Finnish company Nokia has played a key role in providing Russia with cyber espionage tools. This is evidenced by the relevant documents available to the New York Times. We tell you the details of the journalistic investigation.

According to the investigation, Nokia recently announced that it was stopping its sales in Russia and condemned the invasion of Ukraine. However, the Finnish firm did not specify what it refused: the tools and software that connect the Russian government's most powerful digital surveillance device to the country's largest telecommunications community are still in operation.

It is known that this system is also called the system of Operational Search actions (SORM). It is also most likely used now, as Russian President Vladimir Putin cuts off and blocks anti-war votes within the country.

Earlier, according to the publication, the device was used to search for supporters of the leader of the Russian opposition Alexey Navalny. The investigation said that it intercepted phone calls of the opposition.

The NYT article notes that Nokia has been offering tools and providers for connecting SORM to the largest telecommunications service provider in Russia, MTS, for more than 5 years.

Despite the fact that Nokia does not create technologies that intercept communications, documents available to the publication describe how it worked with state-owned Russian firms to plan, optimize and troubleshoot the connection of the SORM system to the MTS network.

It is alleged that Russia's Main Intelligence Service, the FSB, uses SORM to wiretap telephone conversations, intercept emails and text messages, and monitor various network communications.

At the same time, documents covering 2008-2017 indicate that Nokia knew about the support of the Russian espionage system.

In turn, the Finnish company, which did not deny the authenticity of the documents, said that, according to Russian regulation, it must produce goods that can allow the Russian telecom operator to connect to the SORM system.

At the same time, the corporation claims that it did not produce, configure or maintain SORM tools.

The company also said it complies with global requirements used by many vendors of basic community tools that hide surveillance agencies. In this regard, Nokia is asking governments to set clearer export requirements for the place where expertise can be purchased.

In addition, the company said it "unequivocally condemns" Russia's invasion of Ukraine.