MOSCOW: Smartphones produced by China-based Xiaomi are being listed as intellectual property products by Russian customs, which will send back all such phones on the way to Russia until the situation is cleared up, Russian media outlet rueconomics.ru said on Saturday. Xiaomi knows of the incident and is actively communicating with related parties, Xiaomi told the Global Times on Monday.
Russian customs has blocked a large quantity of Xiaomi phones shipped to Russian consumers since April, following a Russian customs rule that bans counterfeit products from being imported, said the report. Xiaomi also pointed out on Vkontakte, a Russian social media website, that the imported Xiaomi phones came from channels that did not get the permission of official distributors, and it said that they are all counterfeit products. It is advised by Xiaomi to buy its phones through its official distributor, Smart Orange, the only company legally allowed to sell Xiaomi’s products in Russia. Its business is not affected by the incident targeting online purchases from China, Xiaomi said. However, a representative of Gearbest, a cross-border shopping website, was quoted as telling lenta.ru, another Russian news outlet, that all of the Xiaomi phones sold via Smart Orange are included in the list of intellectual property products distributed by Russian customs. “Smart Orange will cooperate with Russian customs to deal with Xiaomi products being illegally exported to Russia. Customers can get warranties and after-sales service, and they can use international versions of Xiaomi products, as long as they are bought through official channels,” Xiaomi noted.
