Moscow, Russia- December 16, 2013 - Sistema JSFC ("Sistema", the "Group" or the "Company") (LSE: SSA), the largest publicly-traded diversified holding company in Russia and the CIS, today announces that its Board of Directors held a meeting on December 14, 2013, where a number of corporate matters were considered, including consolidated nine months results for 2013, the budget and management's KPIs for 2014, as well as the strategy and investments in a number of Sistema's subsidiaries. The Board also approved a new composition of the Group's Management Board and the appointment of Michael Hecker as Vice President, Head of Strategy, effective February 1, 2014. 

Biography background: 

Michael Hecker

Michael Hecker currently serves as Vice President for Strategy, M&A and Corporate Development, Member of the Executive Board at Mobile TeleSystems  OJSC ("MTS"). It is expected that his powers will be terminated at the meeting of the MTS Board of Directors on December 19, 2013. Michael Hecker joined MTS in 2006. From 2000 to 2006, Mr. Hecker worked at the consulting firm A.T. Kearney Europe, focusing on strategy, marketing and finance in telecommunications and consumer goods industries. Prior to that, he worked as a junior lawyer in Berlin and Brandenburg (Germany). 

Dr. Michael Hecker graduated in International Politics and Administration from the Pierre- Mendès-France University of Grenoble (France) and is a graduate in Law (1. and 2. German State Examination) and Modern History (M.A.) of the University of Göttingen (Germany), where he also holds a PhD in Constitutional History. 

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