VimpelCom and its Chairman win prestigious Corporate Governance Awards
14 Dec 2006

Moscow and New York (December 14, 2006) — Open Joint Stock Company "Vimpel-Communications" ("VimpelCom" or the "Company") (NYSE: VIP), is pleased to announce that the Company and its Chairman were named the winners of prestigious awards in the area of corporate governance.  The awards were given based on performance in 2006.

VimpelCom received the Best Corporate Governance award from the Association for the Protection of Investor Rights.

David Haines, VimpelCom’s Chairman of the Board, received the Best Chairman of the Board award from the Independent Directors Association.

“It is a great honor for us to win these awards from prominent organizations in the area of corporate governance”, said David Haines commenting on today’s announcement.  “It has always been one of our highest priorities to conduct VimpelCom’s business in an open and transparent manner and to safeguard the rights and interests of all our shareholders.  We are happy to see that our efforts are being recognized by the Russian and international business communities.”

The Association for the Protection of Investor Rights is a Moscow-based non-profit organization aimed at unifying investor efforts to protect their rights and improve corporate governance in Russia. This Association includes both Russian and non-Russian investors working in the Russian market.

The Independent Directors Association (IDA) is a professional organization comprised of Russian and international corporate directors and experts in corporate governance.  IDA was founded in 2002 and has more than 286 members.  The Association objective is to assist Russian public companies in improving their performance by implementing the best corporate governance practices.

The VimpelCom Group includes cellular companies operating in Russia, Kazakhstan and recently acquired cellular operators in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and Armenia.  The VimpelCom Group's cellular license portfolio covers a territory with a population of about 240 million.  This includes 78 regions of Russia (136.5 million people, representing 94% of the Russia's population), and the entire territory of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia, and Armenia.  VimpelCom was the first Russian company to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE").  VimpelCom's ADSs are listed on the NYSE under the symbol "VIP".

VimpelCom

Altimo, a leading private equity group, operating on some of the world's most desirable and potentially lucrative mobile telecommunications markets, was created in 2005 from Alfa Telecom, which itself was established in 2004 to hold the telecoms investments of the Alfa Group Consortium (Golden Telecom, Inc., Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S., Kyivstar GSM, MegaFon, VimpelCom, Sky Mobile). Those assets are in Russia, the CIS and other promising emerging markets.

VimpelCom consists of telecommunications operators providing voice and data services through a range of wireless, fixed and broadband technologies. The Group includes companies operating in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia and Armenia, in territories with a total population of about 340 million. The Group companies provide services under the "Beeline" brand.  VimpelCom was the first Russian company to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (under the symbol "VIP").  In Q1 2008, VimpelCom acquired 100% of the oustanding share capital of Golden Telecom, a leading facilities-based provider of integrated telecommunications and Internet services in Russia and the CIS.

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