February 9th, 2010, Moscow. COMSTAR – United TeleSystems (OJCS COMSTAR-UTS, LSE: CMST), the largest integrated telecommunication services operator in Russia and CIS, announces Sergey Pridantsev to have signed the Russian Telecom Operator Anti-Child Porn Charter 2010 on behalf of the COMSTAR-UTS Group.

The Charter summarizes the results of Secure Internet Year in Russia and defines further prospects for telecom operator activities in this domain. The document emphasizes that telecom operators set a task to use information and communication technology with the aim of harmonized development of information infrastructure in Russia, protecting the rights of every society member, children in particular, against illegal information and child pornography they are exposed to in the information and communication networks.

The Charter has also been signed by the top managers of a number of other major telecom companies.

Addressing the Charter signing ceremony, OJSC COMSTAR-UTS’ President Sergey Pridantsev pointed out, “Internet today is a warehouse of an enormous amount of data, with malicious content among them. It is not hard to realize the extent of psychological trauma a child may suffer having occasionally come across the most dangerous illegal content – child porn. That is why regulated moral aspect of Internet use and operator liability providing Internet access are extremely acute issues today. COMSTAR pays much attention for Internet safety for children. We offer Parent Control feature to restrict child access to dangerous content. We also maintain a Children Online hotline to receive info about the registered instances of child porn in the Internet. I encourage all telecom operators to join us and sign the Charter to support the principles it promotes".

By signing the Charter, the operators affirmed their commitment to the principles of free information and knowledge exchange, where each person, especially a child, should be protected against illegal information, child porn, psychological or moral abuse. Representatives of the major companies undertake to assist in promoting the efforts of government, public and religious organizations to strengthen the respective policy and regulatory basis.

The attendants of the Charter signing ceremony agreed that certain subjects within telecom industry, and, in particular, the most significant one – the social constituent of operator responsibility with their subscribers, especially child access to Internet – have no ambiguous readings.

Russia is one of the first countries in the world to have started solving the issues of safe child access to Internet content. The Charter signed is quite a milestone to underscore Secure Internet Year in Russia. During the last year, telecom operators, parents of young users, regulatory authorities and public officers were raising the issue of safe Internet over and over again.