Moscow, Russia - March 13, 2008 - Sistema (LSE: SSA), the largest public diversified corporation in Russia and the CIS, which manages fast growing companies operating in the consumer services sector, today announced that it has signed a partnership agreement  with the Government of the Republic of Belarus.

The agreement was signed by Vladimir Semashko, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Belorus, and Alexander Goncharuk, President of Sistema. The main goal of the agreement is to attract investments to the Republic of Belarus through the implementation of economically viable and socially significant investment projects in a number of industries. Within the framework of this agreement both parties expect to sign individual agreements between governmental bodies of Belarus and Sistema and its subsidiaries. A Steering Committee has been set up to execute joint projects, and consists of 12 representatives of the Government of the Republic of Belarus and ten representatives of Sistema and its subsidiaries.

Alexander Goncharuk, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We have strong interest in the expansion of the unified economic area of the Russian Federation and Belarus, and a closer integration between Russian and Belarusian companies. We believe that Sistema's experience as a diversified corporation will give us an opportunity to establish efficient partnerships in different industries of the Republic such as real estate, telecommunications, healthcare, retail, banking and high-tech industries."