Moscow, Russia – December 21, 2010 – Sistema (LSE: SSA), the largest diversified public financial corporation in Russia and the CIS, which invests in, and is a major shareholder of, companies operating in different industries, today announced that during the official visit of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev to India Sistema signed a Framework Agreement (“Agreement”) with the Indian national oil and energy holding company ONCG Videsh.

Within the Agreement, the parties agreed to consider opportunities for a potential transaction involving Sistema’s majority stake in JSC Bashneft and 49% stake in RussNeft, each of which owns and operates numerous fields and refining assets, and ONCG Videsh’s 100% stake in Imperial Energy Corp., which owns and operates fields in Russia, along with any other oil and gas assets which the aforesaid companies may acquire before definitive agreements are signed, plus possible cash investments. The parties further agree to consider joint investments in each other’s existing and future exploratory assets in key countries.

The provisions of this Agreement are intended solely as the basis for further discussions between the parties on the scope, timeline and valuation parameters of a potential transaction, and no binding commitments of any kind or nature will arise between ONGC and Sistema until the parties’ execution of binding legal documentation and receipt of any necessary corporate and governmental approvals.

ONCG Videsh, a subsidiary of Indian State Oil and Gas Corporation (ONGC), has a proven track record of mutually beneficial co-operation with the Russian Government. ONGC started its operation on the Russian oil and gas market in 2001 when it acquired a stake in “Sakhalin-1.” In 2009 ONGC bought Imperial Energy which owned oil assets in Tomsk region, Russia, for approximately US$ 2.4 bln.