Russian President Vladimir Putin is turning eastward as the US and EU sanctions batter the Russian economy. Putin visited China last month to strengthen ties with the country, Russia's largest trading partner, after bilateral trade surged sevenfold in the past decade to about $94 billion last year.

On May 20, a unit of Usmanov's mining company Metalloinvest Holding Co announced a strategic cooperation agreement with China's Hopu Investment Management Co, saying both companies will jointly develop a copper deposit.

On May 22, billionaire Gennady Timchenko said China is prepared to finance most of Russia's largest liquefied natural gas project, Yamal LNG.

Usmanov has sold most of his Facebook Inc shares and expects to benefit from investments in China's Internet giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and JD.com Inc, Ivan Streshinskiy, head of the billionaire's asset-management company USM Advisors LLC, said in March.

MegaFon, based in Moscow, is continuing talks with other network providers for other regions, Bashmakov said. At least seven vendors were ready to supply equipment, he said.

The carrier previously used equipment from Huawei and Finland's Nokia Oyj to build 2G and 3G networks. Closely held Huawei's rivals also include Sweden's Ericsson AB and France's Alcatel-Lucent SA.

MegaFon has said it plans at least $5.2 billion in capital spending in 2013 through 2015.

"The era of highly priced purchases is over," Bashmakov said.

"Instead, vendors in Russia have to agree on lower margins and long-term cooperation."

Huawei debuts world's slimmest phone in Paris	Huawei executive says it still seeks US sales