Russia out of MWC 2022: the position taken by the Barcelona fair

The Mobile World Congress 2022 it is not the first European event to have taken a drastic decision. In fact, Eurovision yesterday announced the exclusion of Russia from the competition and now the Barcelona fair has decided to do the same thing. There will therefore be no Russian pavilion, with the GSMA – the body that organizes the event and represents over 750 mobile operators in the world – which has published an official statement on the event website: “GSMA strongly condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The situation is evolving quickly and we understand that the various governments are considering the tightening of the sanctions against Russia ”.

This will certainly not influence Putin’s government decisions and GSMA is well aware of it: “The situation is rapidly evolving, and we understand that various governments are considering wider sanctions against Russia. The MWC seems irrelevant given the circumstances, considering the current situation and the tragic loss of life, ”reads the official statement.

In any case that hold of the organization of the MWC seems to be the only possible decision, with some companies banned from the event and others that will be able to exhibit without having a reference pavilion. They were also strengthened security measures, so as to guarantee the safety of the thousands of people who will take part in the event. The Barcelona fair, which will start on February 28 and end on March 3, in fact provides for the participation of a lot of professionals, with 1,800 exhibitors from all over the world.