Moscow and New York (January 18, 2008) - Open Joint Stock Company “Vimpel-Communications” (“VimpelCom” or the "Company") (NYSE: VIP) announced today that its indirect subsidiary, Lillian Acquisition, Inc. (“Lillian Acquisition”), has commenced a cash tender offer for 100% of the outstanding shares of common stock of Golden Telecom, Inc. (“Golden Telecom”) (NASDAQ: GLDN) under the previously announced merger agreement between Lillian Acquisition, VimpelCom Finance B.V. and Golden Telecom

The offer and withdrawal rights are scheduled to expire at 12:00 midnight, New York City time on Friday, February 15, 2008, unless the offer is extended by Lillian Acquisition.
The complete terms, conditions and other details of the tender offer are set out in the Offer to Purchase, which will be filed today, January 18, 2008, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and mailed to stockholders of record of Golden Telecom.

VimpelCom will webcast a conference call and slide presentation to discuss this announcement on January 28, 2008, at 6:30 p.m. Moscow time (10:30 a.m. EST).  The conference call will be hosted by Alexander Izosimov, Chief Executive Officer of VimpelCom.  The call and slide presentation may be accessed via webcast at the following URL address:  https://www.vimpelcom.com.