Moscow, Russian Federation – Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (“MTS” – NYSE: MBT), the leading telecommunications operator in Russia and the CIS, announces that from August 06, 2012 till August 07, 2012, 16 regional antimonopoly departments of the Republic of Uzbekistan simultaneously held hearings and declared that Uzdunrobita FE LLC (“Uzdunrobita” or “MTS-Uzbekistan”), MTS’s wholly owned subsidiary in Uzbekistan, violated antimonopoly laws, consumer protection laws and laws governing advertisements. In total, the claims of the antimonopoly regulator against Uzdunrobita amount to approximately $80 million. The Company will appeal the aforementioned decisions in accordance with the procedures set forth by the laws of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

In the MTS’s opinion, the charges brought against Uzdunrobita by Uzbek antimonopoly authorities are unwarranted and illegal as the Company has always complied with the requirements of Uzbek law. The charges are not based on facts pertaining to the Company’s operations in Uzbekistan and do not take into account standard practices of operations of telecommunication companies, both in Uzbekistan and around the world.

Hearings by the regional antimonopoly departments were initiated based on the 16 identical findings of the additional audits of Uzdunrobita’s branches. The texts of the findings are identical, including both the same text and typographical errors, which may indicate that these documents were written beforehand and distributed to the regional antimonopoly departments. Each of the 16 regional antimonopoly departments rejected the Company’s motions to postpone the hearings in order to allow time to prepare substantiated answers to the claims against Uzdunrobita and failed to honor the Company’s constitutional right to legal defense.

MTS views these antimonopoly proceedings based on audits conducted by the Prosecutor General’s Office with numerous violations of Uzbekistan law, as well as the illegal suspension of Uzdunrobita’s license, application of intimidation tactics against Uzdunrobita’s employees, including their detainment and arrests, and the seizure of assets prior to the official completion of any investigation as an unwarranted attack on MTS’s legitimate investments, which is being orchestrated by certain influential entities in Uzbekistan as a prelude toward the seizure and expropriation of the Company’s assets in the country.