OREANDA-NEWS. Open Joint Stock Company "Vimpel-Communications" ("VimpelCom" or the "Company") (NYSE: VIP), today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized VC ESOP N.V., or VC ESOP, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary, to repurchase up to 1,600,000 American Depositary Shares, or ADSs, which is equivalent to up to 400,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, par value 0.5 kopecks per share, through December 31, 2008.

The number of shares underlying ADSs that may be repurchased equals approximately 0.8% of VimpelCom’s common stock currently outstanding.

The Company and VC ESOP intend to utilize the repurchased shares for the issuance of stock based compensation awards.

Purchases would be made in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions, all in accordance with U.S. and Russian securities law, including the volume, price, timing and other requirements of Rule 10b-18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.