| Moscow and New York (June 26, 2006) — Open Joint Stock Company "Vimpel-Communications" ("VimpelCom" or the "Company") (NYSE: VIP), today announced that the Moscow Arbitration Court has ruled in favor of VimpelCom in the second of the three lawsuits filed by Telenor East Invest AS. The Company is pleased with the court’s decision dismissing Telenor’s claim to invalidate the decision of VimpelCom’s CEO to complete the acquisition of CJSC “Ukrainian Radio Systems” ("URS"). Today’s ruling marks the second instance where a Russian court has rejected Telenor’s efforts to invalidate VimpelCom’s acquisition of URS. On May 15, 2006 the Moscow Arbitration Court ruled against Telenor and upheld the validity of the September 2005 VimpelCom shareholder vote, which approved the acquisition of URS. Both court rulings are subject to appeal and Telenor has already submitted an appeal of the May 15, 2006 ruling.
Commenting on the decision of the court, VimpelCom’s CEO, Alexander Izosimov, said, “We are very pleased that the Moscow Arbitration Court has once again ruled in VimpelCom’s favor. An overwhelming 89% of our public shareholders who voted at the September 2005 shareholder meeting voted in favor of the URS acquisition after an open and thorough public debate. It is my hope that this second court decision in favor of VimpelCom sends an even clearer message to Telenor that it is time to act in the best interests of all VimpelCom shareholders and withdraw its remaining lawsuit against the Company.”
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