March 15, 2006

As of this day, the basket of securities comprising the MICEX Index will include common shares in Gazprom, Mobile TeleSystems, Uralsvyazinform, RBK Information Systems as well as preference shares in Transneft. Preference shares in AvtoVAZ, preference shares in Rostelecom, preference shares in Tatneft and common shares in YUKOS have been excluded from the MICEX Index. In accordance with the revised calculation methodology, the maximum weight of each security in the MICEX Index will not exceed 15% as of the beginning of calculation of the MICEX Index on the basis of the new basket of securities. Thus, as of 14 March 2006, the MICEX Index, which is acknowledged as the indictor of the Russian stock market and accounts for 83% of the liquidity of the Russian market, is comprised of 19 securities.

Changes in the basket of the MICEX Index were discussed by the MICEX Index Committee at the MICEX Stock Exchange. The Committee is comprised of leading analysts of the Russian financial market and members of the professional community. Changes in the basket of the MICEX Index were made to bring the structure of the MICEX Index into line with the current market situation. According to the MICEX Index Committee, the market of each security, comprising the MICEX Index, on the MICEX Stock Exchange has the appropriate level of liquidity and representativeness.

When upgrading the basket of the MICEX Index, special attention was paid to the possibility of reproducing its portfolio by investment funds, trust managers and other institutional investors. The inclusion of new securities will widen the sectoral representation in the MICEX Index, diversify the basket of the MICEX Index and improve the investment attractiveness of mutual funds based on it. Issuers, whose securities have been added to the Index, in particular, Gazprom and Mobile TeleSystems, are all leaders in their segments. It should be noted that changes in the MICEX Index enable to reproduce the structure of the MICEX Index basket in investment portfolios with minimal costs.

Today, there are 9 mutual funds based on the MICEX Index. Since the beginning of 2006, the value of their net assets has doubled and reached 1.2 billion rubles. The rapid growth of the assets of index funds is a result of attraction of shareholders’ money, which shows the increasing interest in investing in index funds.

The latest changes will help to improve the quality of the MICEX Index as an integral indicator of the state of the Russian stock market and enable Russian and international investors to raise the effectiveness of investments in index funds by making the basket of the MICEX Index an effective portfolio of Russian shares with an acceptable ratio of potential earnings and risk.

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