OREANDA-NEWS. On 18 February 2008 Mobile TeleSystems OJSC, the largest mobile phone operator in Russia and the CIS, announced the election of a new Board of Directors (BoD) by the Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders (EGM) held earlier today.

The shareholders’ meeting elected the following members to the BoD:
Mr. Alexey Buyanov, Senior Vice President, Head of Financial Complex, Sistema;
Mr. Sergei Drozdov, Senior Vice President, Head of Property Complex, Sistema;
Ms. Tatiana Evtushenkova, Advisor to the President of MTS;
Mr. Mohanbir Gyani, independent director;
Mr. Leonid Melamed, President and CEO of MTS;
Mr. Paul Ostling, independent director;
Mr. Vitaliy Savelyev, First Vice President, Head of telecommunications asset management division.


At a subsequent meeting of the new BoD held in absentia, Mr. Vitaliy Savelyev was named Chairman of the Board, while Mr. Sergei Drozdov was named Vice Chairman.

The EGM also approved:
The reorganization and merger of Volgograd Mobile, Astrakhan Mobile, Mar Mobile and Primtelefon into MTS and resulting revised version of the Company’s Charter;
The restated version of the Statute on Shareholder Meetings;
The reelection of members of the Auditing Commission.


The EGM did not approve the resolution regarding the stock option plan that would include Board directors with accompanying changes to the Statute on Remunerations and Compensations to the members of the BoD. Sistema, the largest shareholder of MTS, voted against the resolutions citing a need for additional analysis of the matter.

Mr. Alexander Goncharuk, President and CEO of Sistema, who presided as chairman of the EGM, commented: “We welcome the election of Mr. Vitaliy Savelyev as the new Chairman of the Board. He has a wealth of experience in the telecommunications industry and is a capable manager with a proven track record at the highest level. As for the stock option plan, we felt it required additional work and will be reviewed at a future date by the Board.”
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Biography:

Vitaliy Savelyev was born in 1954.

He graduated from the mechanical engineering faculty of the Polytechnic Institute in Leningrad. He participated in the construction of the Sayanno-Shushenskaya hydroelectric plant. In 1986 he received his second degree from the University of Engineering and Economics. In 1988 he founded and became head of the Leningrad branch of the Soviet-American company “Dialog” – the first company for computer equipment and software promotion. In 1989 he became a shareholder and a member of the board of directors of Dialog Bank. In 1990-1993 Mr. Savelyev was the President of Soviet-American enterprise DialogInvest. In 1993-1995 he became Chairman of Rossiya bank. In 1995 Mr. Savelyev worked as the Chairman of Menatep SPB bank, in 2001 he was appointed deputy chairman of Gazprom, from 2002 till 2004 was the vice president of Gros, an adviser of the general director of Svyazinvest for finance and IT-technologies, from 2004 till 2007 worked as the deputy minister of economic development and trade. Since 2007 First Vice President of Sistema, Head of telecommunications asset management division.