While I might complain about the ubiquity of all-but-identical BlackBerry models, slight colour changes of which are announced with breathless glee almost every other day, some countries are yet to see RIM’s messaging marvels at all.  One place where that has just changed is Russia, where carrier Vimpelcom has sold the first BlackBerry contract to the world’s second-largest cigarette maker, British American Tobacco.  A powder pink Pearl is still the stuff of dreams, however; BAT are getting the BlackBerry 8700g.

Previously, if a Russian wanted a BlackBerry smartphone they’d have to pick up a foreign one and use a roaming SIM all the time, potentially a very expensive situation.  Official approval to start selling the handsets domestically came last November, and Vimpelcom claim to be in talks with 40 more potential enterprise clients all wanting instant email access.