Moscow and New York (January 26, 2006) - Open Joint Stock Company "Vimpel-Communications" ("VimpelCom" or the "Company") (NYSE: VIP) stated that it regrets that Telenor has decided to abandon its committment to work constructively toward finding a solution to the issues regarding VimpelCom's expansion into Ukraine. The Company believes all its actions with regards to the acquisition of CJSC "Ukrainian Radio Systems" ("URS") were proper, transparent and in accordance with Russian law. Telenor's actions continue to put them squarely against the will of the majority of VimpelCom's shareholders. It appears that Telenor's conflict of interest in Ukraine has prevented it from considering the issue of VimpelCom's expansion into Ukraine fairly and rationally.

While Telenor's actions will now force VimpelCom to expend resources and energy to respond to Telenor's lawsuits in order to protect the interest of all VimpelCom shareholders, VimpelCom's management will remain focused on operating and growing the business. VimpelCom is confident that it will prevail in court.

Commenting on today's news, VimpelCom's Chairman, David Haines, said, "Considering 89% of the public shareholders who voted were in favor of the URS acquisition after a very open and thorough public debate, Telenor now has to be able to separate its obviously emotionally charged conflict in Ukraine from its responsibility towards all the shareholders in the NYSE-listed VimpelCom."