OREANDA-NEWS. September 13, 2007. Standard & Poor's Governance Services affirmed corporate governance score (CGS) on Sibirtelecom (OJSC) at ‘CGS-5’. At the same time, the Russia national scale score on the company was affirmed at ‘CGS-5.3’.

The affirmation reflects the continuing efforts of Sibirtelecom’s management to strengthen its reporting process, controls, and risk management procedures, as well as the gradually improving governance climate at Svyazinvest OJSC, Sibirtelecom's state-controlled majority shareholder.

The overall CGS on Sibirtelecom is the result of four component scores on the global and Russia national scales of 1 (low) to 10 (high). The global scale score is shown first below, and the Russia national scale score second:

- Ownership structure and external influences  4+/4.8

- Shareholder rights and stakeholder relations 7/7.0

- Transparency, disclosure, and audit 6/6.1

- Board structure and effectiveness 4+/4.7

The strengths of corporate governance practices at Sibirtelecom include:

- There is a generally good level of transparency, and proactive investor relations policies are in place.

- The company employs an internationally acknowledged auditor chosen via an open tender. This is complemented by the active internal audit department.

- Apart from specific concerns related to the registrar’s affiliation with Svyazinvest, shareholder meeting procedures are generally in line with those of well-governed companies. Shareholder rights are strong overall on the back of Russian legislation.

- The board has substantial authority and is active. This is supported by four board committees.

Full version of Standard & Poor's press release can be found at: www.eng.sibirtelecom.ru/r-sp