Russian FM slams Huawei executive arrest in Canada

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW

Russian foreign minister on Friday criticized the arrest of a Huawei executive, calling it “an example of an exterritorial appliance of national jurisdiction by the U.S.”

Washington asked Canada to take into custody Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou. Canadian authorities made the arrest Saturday in Vancouver over alleged violations of Iran sanctions. She faces the possibility of extradition to the U.S to be tried on unspecified charges in the Eastern District of New York.

Sergey Lavrov said: "I believe that this is another manifestation of the line that inspires a rejection among the overwhelming majority of normal countries, normal people, the line of extraterritorial application of their [U.S.] national laws."

Lavrov was commenting on the situation on the sidelines of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) ministerial meeting in Milan, Italy.

“This is a very arrogant great-power policy that no one accepts, it already causes rejection even among the closest allies of the U.S.,” Lavrov said.

"It is necessary to put an end to it," he added.

Meng is the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei. Huawei is the largest private company in China and ranks as the number two mobile phone maker behind Samsung.