Moscow, Russia - August 29, 2007 - “COMSTAR - United TeleSystems” JSC (“Comstar”) (LSE: CMST), the leading combined telecommunications operator in Russia and the CIS, today announced that it has opened its branch in St Petersburg and appointed Tatyana Pasynkova as General Director of the new branch. Prior to joining Comstar, Tatyana Pasynkova was Deputy Director for Regional Development of CJSC PeterStar, which is one of the leading alternative fixed-line telecommunications operators in St Petersburg.

Victor Koresh, Vice President for Regional Development of Comstar-UTS, commented: “Expanding Comstar’s presence in St Petersburg has always been one of our main goals and a key part of our strategy. The opening of the branch in St Petersburg will strengthen our presence in the region and help us to optimize the Group structure in order to streamline its business processes. The infrastructure of the branch is in place - we have received all the required licenses and completed the first stage of creating the technology platform based on the network of Astelit, an alternative fixed-line telecommunications company, which we acquired in June 2006.”

Tatyana Pasynkova added: “The initial stage of our activities will include the integration of Astelit under the new branch operations and the construction of NGN-based infrastructure. We will focus on providing services to corporate clients which are present in Moscow and St Petersburg, as well as expanding our offering for existing Astelit’s clients - business centres and foreign embassies.”

Tatyana Pasynkova was born on April 14, 1966, in Leningrad, Russia. From 2004 to 2007, Ms. Pasynkova served as Deputy Director for Regional Development of CJSC PeterStar. From 1993 to 2004, she worked for “Baltic Communications” (BCL) where she held a number of positions in customer services and sales, including Deputy General Director for Commercial Activities. Ms. Pasynkova graduated from Herzen State Pedagogical University in St Petersburg and finished a training course in Efficient Management at Ashridge Business School, United Kingdom.