Russia's number one mobile operator, MTS, has signed a deal with Apple to sell the iPhone. MTS's major rivals, Vimpelcom and MegaFon, said they have reached similar deals with Apple.

MTS did not provide immediate details of the deal and had been slow off the mark in agreeing to it.  The company had doubts about the way Apple had been wanting to package the iPhone.

iPhones have not gone on sale officially in Russia, but are available pretty much illegally. They cost more than $1,000 and are popular among the country's criminal class who are about the only people who can afford them.

Even with Apple making a legitimate market, the iPhone is expected to be well out of the price range of many Russians.  None of the phone companies are expected to be subsidizing the cost of the iPhone, so it is going to be pretty expensive.