On April 13, 2006 MTS’ Board of Directors (BoD) received notice from Vassily Sidorov, the Company’s President and CEO, requesting early termination of his Contract due to an inability to perform his duties. The BoD accepted this request and appointed Mr Melamed, previously the Director General of the ROSNO Insurance Group, as MTS’ acting President and CEO.

Mr Melamed will assume his duties as acting President and CEO of the Company from April 14, 2006 until the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (EGM) terminates the powers of the current President and CEO and elects a new President and CEO.

The BoD also nominated Mr Melamed as a candidate for the position of MTS’ President and CEO to be elected at the Company’s EGM. The EGM is scheduled to take place on June 14, 2006.

The Chairman of MTS’ BoD, Sergey Schebetov commented: “The Company has completed the consolidation of its acquired assets and has created a clear-cut three-tier management system. This was done under the leadership of Vassily Sidorov, and we are grateful to him.  MTS is now faced with a new task of increasing its efficiency. We are proposing Mr Leonid Melamed in the position of President and CEO as, in our opinion, he is capable of completing this assignment.”

Biographies

Vassily Sidorov was born on February 2, 1971 in Athens. He is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania and of the International Law Faculty of the Moscow State International Relations Institute.

From 1992—1994 Mr Sidorov worked in different capacities for the New York Mercantile Exchange, Arthur Andersen in Moscow, as well as for Barents Group LLC and KPMG Peat Marwick in Washington D.C. He owned and managed several companies from 1995 to 1997 specializing in investment and M&A advisory. From 1997 to 2000 he was Deputy General Director/CFO at Svyazinvest. From August 2000, Mr Sidorov served as First Vice President for Finance and Investments at Sistema Telecom, responsible for M&A, corporate finance and the holding’s investment policy.

In September 2003 he became acting President and CEO of MTS; in October 2003 his position was approved by the Extraordinary General Meeting as President and CEO of MTS.

Vassily Sidorov is married with one daughter.

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Leonid Melamed was born on July 11, 1967 in Moscow. He is a graduate of the Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy and holds PhD in Medicine.

Mr Melamed has been with ROSNO since the Company’s founding in 1991. From February 1992, he served as Director of ROSNO’s Centre for Medical Insurance. In June 1992 he held the position of Deputy Chairman of the Management Board and, from 1993, First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board. From September 1997, he served as First Deputy Director General and, from March 2001, as First Deputy Director General-Executive Director. Mr Melamed has held the position of Director General and Chairman of the Management Board of ROSNO since September 15, 2003. He is a member of ROSNO’s BoD.

In 2004 Mr Melamed was elected Chairman of the Expert Council in Insurance Legislation, part of the State Duma Committee on Credit Organizations and Financial Markets.

Leonid Melamed is married with two daughters and one son.