Rostelecom (NYSE: ROS; RTS, MICEX: RTKM, RTKMP), Russia’s national long-distance telecommunications operator, today announced that Standard & Poor’s raised its corporate governance score (CGS) on the Company to “CGS-6.2” on the Russia national scale. The global scale CGS was also affirmed at “CGS-6”.

The overall CGS on Rostelecom is the result of several component scores on global and Russia national scales of 1 (low) to 10 (high). According to the Company’s last year results, both the global scale score (shown first below) and the Russian national scale score (shown second) on ownership structure and external influence were a bit lowered from 5/5.3 to 5/5.2.  The scores on shareholder rights and stakeholder relations were also reduced from 7+/7.5 to 7/7.3. The scores on transparency, disclosure and audit remained unchanged at 6+/6.9, while the improvements made on the Company’s Board structure and effectiveness let S&P to raise its scores from 5+/5.7 to 5+/5.9.

Standard & Poor’s recognized Rostelecom’s transparency, the creation of the Corporate Secretary, active contribution made by the Committees of the Board of Directors, especially the Audit Committee, and adoption of the sound executive compensation plan. The Company’s improvements in corporate governance to conform with international best practices and requirements were also among the positive factors cited by S&P.