VimpelCom To Buy Remaining 49% of Corbina Telecom
03 Jun 2008

Moscow and New York (June 3, 2008) - Open Joint Stock Company “Vimpel-Communications” (“VimpelCom” or the “Company”) (NYSE: VIP) today announced that it signed an agreement to purchase 49% of the shares of Closed Joint Stock Company Cortec (“Corbina Telecom”) from Inure Enterprises Ltd. for approximately US $404 million. VimpelCom’s wholly-owned indirect subsidiary OOO EDN “Sovintel” already owns 51% of the shares of Corbina Telecom. 

“The purchase of the minority stake in Corbina Telecom is a logical step in the execution of our strategy to build an integrated Russian telecoms operator”, Alexander Izosimov, Chief Executive Officer of VimpelCom commented. “The combination of infrastructures, technologies, client bases and expertise of VimpelCom, Golden Telecom and Corbina Telecom will provide a solid base for our successful expansion in Russia’s fast-growing broadband Internet market.”

The transaction closing remains subject to the receipt of regulatory approvals.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements", as the phrase is defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. These statements relate to the completion of the purchase by VimpelCom of 49% shares of Corbina Telecom, intentions regarding the integration of businesses of both companies and the positive effect from the transaction.  Actual results may differ materially from those described in such forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including failure to receive the necessary regulatory approvals to complete the transaction, unforeseen developments in competition, or current or future changes in the political, economic and social environment or current or future regulation of the Russian and CIS telecommunications industries. Additional information concerning factors that could cause results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained in VimpelCom’s public filings with the SEC, including VimpelCom’s annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2007 and other public filings made by the Company with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, which risk factors are incorporated herein by reference. VimpelCom disclaims any obligation to update developments of these risk factors or to announce publicly any revision to any of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, or to make corrections to reflect future events or developments.

About Corbina Telecom

Founded in 1995, Corbina Telecom is a facilities-based alternative service provider operating in 25 regions in Russia including Moscow. Corbina owns a fibre-optic network which provides fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) broadband Internet services in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other Russian cities.

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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