June 1, 2007

The Board of the MICEX has decided to halve its commission for operations in long-term instruments of the government securities market and keep the current low commission for repos.

In the framework of the joint policy pursued by the RF Finance Ministry, the Bank of Russia and the MICEX, aimed at developing and improving the infrastructure of the government securities market, promoting demand for operations in government securities and creating favorable conditions for the overall growth of liquidity of the government securities market, the Board of the MICEX decided, on 28 May 2007, to establish, as of 1 July 2007, the following rates of commission for transactions on the MICEX government securities market:

• in secondary trading (except for switch transactions) and auctions to place (make additional placement of) securities: 0.0001% of the amount of the transaction multiplied by the number of days before redemption (offering), but not more than 0.01% of the amount of the transaction;

• for switch transactions: 0.0001% of the amount of the transaction multiplied by the number of days before redemption (offering), but not more than 0,02% of the amount of the transaction and not more than 5 000 rubles.

Thus, as of 1 July 2007, the commission rate for transactions concluded in secondary trading and auctions to place government securities with maturity over 200 days is reduced two times. For switch transactions, the size of the MICEX commission is limited to 5 000 rubles (which corresponds to 0.01% of the average amount of a switch transaction on the government securities market or 50 million rubles.).

The rate of the MICEX commission for repos (inter-dealer and direct repos) does not change and remains 0.0001% of the amount of the repo multiplied by the term of the repo (in days), but not more than 0.01% of the amount of the repo.

The decision of the MICEX Board is aimed at bringing the rates of commission on the government securities market in line with the aggregate rate of commission on the MICEX Group▓s stock market and reducing the costs of market users. It fully agrees with the goals of the Bank of Russia▓s money and credit policy.

The lowering of commission rates on the government securities market helps to promote borrowings on the internal market by contributing to the growth of liquidity of government securities.