Moscow, Russia – May 31, 2007 – “COMSTAR – United TeleSystems” JSC (“Comstar”) (LSE: CMST), the leading combined telecommunications operator in Russia and the CIS, today announced that its subsidiary, Tyumenneftegassvyaz (“TNGS”), has launched a zonal telephone network in the Khanty-Mansy Autonomous Region of Russia. TNGS is the second operator in the region following Uralsvyazinform to provide traffic and transit exchange under the new regulations.

Nikolay Tokarev, interim President and CEO of Comstar-UTS, commented: “We see the deployment of the regional zonal licenses as a necessary step in the development of TNGS, which is the largest alternative fixed-line operator in the Khanty-Mansy Autonomous Region, with a 24%1 market share as at the end of 2006. We expect that the launch of zonal network services will contribute an additional 10%-12% to TNGS’ overall revenues.”