Moscow, February 1, 2011. CenterTelecom OJSC has received a claim by Russia's Federal Tax Service for RUB38.9 million tax penalties covering 2007-2008 period. CenterTelecom disagrees with tax officials' decision; the company plans to challenge the claim in court.

From September 14, 2009 to April 1, 2010 Russian Federal Tax Service's Inter-Regional Inspectorate #7 for Major Taxpayers conducted field tax audit of CenterTelecom's operations for 2008-2009. After the audit the tax officials made decision to hold the company liable for tax violation.

CenterTelecom has sent an appeal to Russia's Federal Tax Service. On January 13, 2011 the company received the Service's claim mentioned above. The company disagrees with the Federal Tax Service's decision on the tax audit results and is eager to challenge the decision in court in accordance with the current legislation of the Russian Federation.