Moscow, Russia - February 28 , 2006 - Sistema Mass-Media (SMM), the media arm of Sistema (LSE: SSA) and JIR Broadcast, Inc., announced today that Sistema Mass-Media acquired United Cable Networks (UCN) - the leading pay TV and broadband service provider in Russia.

UCN is present in more than 17 metropolitan areas throughout Russia, with a combined population of more than 11.5 million people, 2.1 million homes passed and 724,000 subscribers as of December 2005. The acquisition of UCN reinforces the position of Sistema Mass-Media as the leading provider of home entertainment services to Russian households and establishes a strong platform for the continued consolidation of the Russian pay TV market.

Commenting on the transaction Michael Dounaev, the CEO of Sistema Mass-Media, said: "The acquisition is in line with the Company's strategy of expanding its pay TV offering and extending its multimedia footprint further into fast-growing Russian regions".

Morgan Stanley acted as a financial advisor to JIRB and Baker McKenzie acted as a legal advisor to JIRB. Latham and Watkins acted as a legal advisor to Sistema Mass Media.