Moscow, October 10, 2003. Aleksei Kaurov has been appointed chief of the Sistema JSFC Investment Raising Strategy Department instituted in May 2003. Commenting on this appointment, Aleksei Buyanov, Sistema JSFC First Vice President, said: “Today, the company is increasingly leaning on outside resources to finance its development programs. Efforts to reinforce the management team and recruit high-class professionals will help improve efficiency of the company’s financial operations.” Aleksei Kaurov was born in Moscow on June 27, 1971. In 1993, he was graduated from the international relations department of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s International Relations Institute (IRI) with a degree in international economics and English, and in 1996, he graduated from the Business School of George Washington University in the US. Between 1991 and 1997, Mr. Kaurov was an expert at the international business school run by the IRI, head of the fund management department at ROS-PROM, and leading expert at the corporate finance department of the YUKOS oil company. Between 1997 and 2001, he was direct investments manager at the Moscow representative office of NCH Advisors, Inc. In 2001 to 2003, he was director of the planning and treasury service of OAO Vimpelkom-Region, moving on to head of the financial planning and accounting department, and then head of the corporate finance department of OAO Vimpelkom. For more details, contact: Andrei Bliznyuk Investor Relations Department Tel: +7 095 730 1543 bliznyuk@sistema.ru Olga Pestereva Press Office ??? + 7 095 730 1705 pestereva@sistema.ru