Huawei has agreed a deal with Russian telecoms giant MTS to develop technology for 5G mobile networks in the country.
It was agreed by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a three-day state visit to Russia.
In a statement, MTS said the deal will see Huawei lead "the development of 5G technologies and the pilot launch of fifth generation networks in 2019 and 2020".
It comes amid waves of international criticism of its security technology, led by the US, which has led the phone manufacturer to be blocked in some countries.
In May, Google was forced to ban Huawei from parts of its Android operating system after the US added the Chinese company to an 'entity list' which prevents all US companies from working with them unless approved by the government.
Earlier this year, one of the UK's top cybersecurity officials described Huawei's engineering as "shoddy". There are concerns that problems with its technology could allow the Chinese government to use Huawei phones to spy on other nations.
