German telecoms company Deutsche Telekom has ended its operations in Russia due to the country's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

The company said that it only had a small presence in the country, no network infrastructure in Russia, and no business relationships with local companies.

Instead, Deutsche Telekom said that it had a team of programmers, mainly in St. Petersburg, who worked with clients outside of Russia.

"In recent weeks, these experts have been given the opportunity to work outside Russia, many of which have taken advantage of and left the country," the company said.

Earlier this week, the Russian Association for Electronic Communications (RAEC) said that as many as 170,000 Russian IT specialists could leave the country by April, with 50-70 thousand already having left.

Internet backbone Cogent has ceased all business with Russia, while Lumen has pledged to end operations there. Cisco, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle have also suspended work in the country, along with Apple, Netflix, Sabre, Ericsson, PayPal, Mastercard, and Visa.