The BlackBerry is headed to Russia. Approval to import the RIM device had been held up by the Federal Security Service (FSB), the agency that succeeded the Soviet KGB organization.
To gain the approval, both OAO Mobile TeleSystems and OAO VimpelCom, Russia’s biggest mobile-phone companies apparently granted the FSB access to their email servers to let the intelligence organization track messages sent to and from the devices. Neither company officially confirmed this move though and one Mobile TeleSystems executive simply said, “BlackBerry security will be the same as in other countries.”
Mobile Telesystems will be allowed to import up to 7,800 devices while VimpelCom will find out its quota today.
I thought the cold war was over…