Telenor strongly rejects Russian arrest in VimpelCom shares

  (Fornebu, Norway, 28 October 2008)
Telenor on Monday learned, through
a press release said to be issued by Farimex Products, of a
decision
in a Siberian appeals court in Omsk purporting to arrest Telenor
and
Altimo's shares in VimpelCom. "If this is true, it is an
outrageous
decision, which we intend to overturn using all available means,"
said Jan Edvard Thygesen, EVP and head of Telenor's operations in
Central and Eastern Europe.

Using a ruling it obtained in Khanty-Mansiysk in August this year, Farimex has apparently managed to have the Omsk court issue an arrest order, not only against Telenor's VimpelCom shares, but also against Altimo's VimpelCom shares - despite the fact that the Khanty-Mansiysk court has held that Altimo was not liable for any damages. The Khanty-Mansiysk court held Telenor solely liable for VimpelCom's alleged late entry into the Ukrainian mobile market and ordered Telenor to pay VimpelCom USD 2.8 billion in damages. This ruling has been appealed by Telenor, which considers the ruling absurd and the case to be wholly without merit. The appeal is scheduled to be heard in the Omsk court on 18th November.

"We see absolutely no reason for the Omsk court to arrest Telenor's VimpelCom shares ahead of the scheduled appeals hearing," said Jan Edvard Thygesen. "The timing of the arrest and the inclusion of Altimo's shares strongly suggests that there were other motives for this arrest, and we believe this is yet another of Alfa's collusive actions. There are already media reports that this is meant to prevent Alfa's creditors from getting access to Alfa's shares. If that is the case, it could limit other Russian companies' ability to obtain loans from international banks for many years to come. We feel confident that Russian authorities will look into the matter immediately," said Thygesen.

This announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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Contact: Dag Melgaard Vice President Telenor Group Communications, tel: [phone] Email: Email Contact