Ericsson had denied media reports in Sweden that it is still exporting products to Russia.

The vendor has hit back, stating that it's only offering software and technical support to its Russian clients, and hasn't sold any telecommunications kit to MNOs in the country since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Ericsson suspended its business in the country in late February in the earlier days of the invasion, as many of the world's economies imposed sanctions on Russia around telco equipment and semiconductors.

In August the vendor said it would leave the country in the coming months, making 400 employees redundant in the country, and recorded a charge of $81 million in the process.

"Compliant with the sanctions we provide the software and technical assistance for those products that we have shipped prior to the invasion making it possible to withdraw while fulfilling contractual obligations," an Ericsson spokesperson said.

Shares of the company fell by 4.6 percent on the morning of the reports.

It's been a challenging year for Ericsson, as the vendor has also been the subject of a scandal involving the terrorist group ISIS over payments to the organization.

The company said it may have given money to the group in Iraq. An internal probe from 2019 found serious breaches of compliance rules in Iraq, including payments for transport routes to evade local customs.

Rival vendor Nokia also confirmed it will exit the Russian market by the end of the year. Despite scaling back its business in the country to avoid US sanctions, Huawei is the only one of the big three equipment suppliers not to withdraw from Russia.