OREANDA-NEWS. On 14 August 2008 Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (“MTS” – NYSE: MBT), the largest mobile phone operator in Russia and the CIS, announced the appointment of Mr. Aleksander Popovskiy as the Head of MTS Russia.

Mr. Aleksander Popovskiy has previously served as the Head of the South Macro-region of MTS Russia, where he maintained the Company’s leading positions in an extremely competitive market. Mr. Popovskiy was responsible for managing operations with a high variety in penetration levels across the region and strong seasonal factors. Prior to that role, Mr. Popovskiy was the Head of the Volga North-West Macro-region, where he reversed the market share decline and launched successful operations in three new regions. As the new Head of MTS Russia, he is replacing Mr. Mikhail Shamolin, who was recently promoted to the position of the President and CEO of MTS Group.

“Mr. Popovskiy is a results-oriented executive with a proven track record of running strategically important business units of MTS Russia. He was successful in growing market share in highly competitive regions. Mr. Popovskiy has extensive knowledge of the telecoms market and is very familiar with the regional specifics. I am certain that this will help him to effectively execute on MTS’ strategy and maintain our leading positions in the Russian market,” said Mr. Mikhail Shamolin, President and CEO of MTS.