Vassily Sidorov, MTS’ President and CEO, commented, “We are proud to celebrate our fifth anniversary as a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Over the past five years, MTS has built its leadership as the number one mobile phone operator in Russia, Ukraine and other CIS countries, growing its customer base from half a million subscribers at the time of IPO to over 42 million subscribers today. MTS is also a leader in implementing international industry best practices and standards of corporate governance and financial transparency. The company’s success has generated outstanding returns for shareholders — MTS’ market capitalization has increased from $2 billion in June 2000 to $13 billion today.

“2005 promises to be another strong year of subscriber and revenue growth. The dynamic development of Russia and CIS telecommunications markets provides MTS with significant growth opportunities for the future. Our strategy is to expand our market positions and provide our customers with the increasingly sophisticated products and services they demand, while leveraging our economies of scale to increase efficiency. I would like to thank MTS’ customers, employees and shareholders, who make our success possible.”