Moscow, July 28, 2003. Sistema JSFC announced today that the company is nearing completion of an agreement to acquire the 50% stake in Comstar ZAO owned by Adamant Advisory Services, Inc. The parties have come to an understanding on all major issues. The deal will be concluded following execution of necessary legal procedures.

Comstar ZAO was established in 1989 as a joint venture between MGTS and Marconi International with the goal of providing quality communications services in the Moscow region. Now, Comstar is one of the leaders in the Russian telecom market. It has licenses to operate in 13 regions and controls 13% of the Moscow market for alternative telecom communications. This acquisition represents a further step in consolidation of Sistema’s commercial carriers into a soon-to-be-formed Digital Operator, which will provide a wide range of advanced telecommunications services in Moscow, the Moscow Region and other regions of Russia. The remaining 50% of Comstar ZAO is already owned by MGTS, in which Sistema is the controlling shareholder.

Evgeny Novitsky, President of Sistema, said, “Acquisition of an additional 50% of Comstar will strengthen Sistema’s positions in the telecommunications segment, which we consider to be a key priority. Today, this is a strong company with extensive experience in the Russian market, good client base and considerable potential for further development. Over the years, we at Sistema, together with our other partners, have worked hard to turn Comstar into an industry leader. At this point, we are seeing interesting opportunities for integration of the company into the structure of Sistema’s telecommunications assets.”

About Sistema

Joint-Stock Financial Corporation Sistema (Sistema) is one of Russia’s largest diversified holding companies. Founded in 1993, Sistema currently owns and actively manages a diversified portfolio of assets in the following sectors: telecommunications (MTS, MGTS, MTU-Inform, Telmos, Golden Line, Comstar and others), technology (Mikron, as well as a number of other microelectronics enterprises), insurance (ROSNO), finance and securities (MBRD), real estate (Sistema-Hals), travel services (Intourist), retail (Detsky Mir) and others.

Further information:

Moscow Investor Relations:Andre Bliznyuk Telephone: +7 095 730 1543 bliznyuk@sistema.ru

Media Relations:Olga Pestereva Telephone: + 7 095 730 1705 pestereva@sistema.ru

London Fred Harrison Tel: +44 (0)207 431 7517 fharrison@ansdellconsult.com