Moscow, Russia – June 20, 2012 – Rostelecom OJSC (MICEX - RTS: RTKM, RTKMP; OTCQX: ROSYY), Russia’s national telecommunications operator, today announces that it has two loan agreements with Sberbank of Russia (“Sberbank”) totalling RUB 60 billion, which will mature in 3 and 5 years, respectively. Rostelecom will use the proceeds raised from the agreed loans to refinance its current liabilities, as well as to finance its operating activities and CAPEX programme.

Further to an open bidding process conducted by Rostelecom, and following the highest price bids submitted by Sberbank, the two companies entered into negotiations to sign the loan agreements.

Ilya Ponomarev, Executive Director - Director of Finance Department of Rostelecom, commented: “We are pleased with the results of the bidding process and to have further developed our cooperation with Sberbank, who offers attractive terms of financing as the leader in the Russian financial market. Rostelecom plans to use the loan proceeds to restructure its existing debt, which will help us prolong the payment terms of our liabilities and improve the balance of our debt portfolio.” 

Alexey Grenkov, Head of key client coverage, Key Corporate Clients Department, added: “We are happy to start a new stage of our cooperation with Rostelecom, one of Russia’s largest telecommunications operators, and we plan to further develop our relationship as part of a strategic partnership.”

The Board of Directors of Rostelecom made a decision to raise the RUB 60 billion additional debt financing on June 13, 2012.