OREANDA-NEWS. September 29, 2009. COMSTAR – United TeleSystems (COMSTAR-UTS, LSE: CMST), the largest operator of integrated telecommunication services in Russia and the CIS, informs that the Board of Directors approved the Group’s Social Report for 2008 at its meeting on September 17. The report contents are presented at: http://www.comstar-uts.ru/en/about/socialreport/

This Social Report is the second in the history of COMSTAR-UTS group. The first ever corporate social responsibility report of COMSTAR-UTS was made public in December 2008. It was a non-audited social report of the Group describing its activity at the time interval since the late 2006 to the early 2008. COMSTAR-UTS were the first Russian telecommunication company to officially publish its social reporting. Releasing the social report for 2008, COMSTAR-UTS confirm its commitment to provide yearly social responsibility reports.

The 2008 report preserves the structure of the previous social report of COMSTAR-UTS emphasizing reporting continuity and allowing to cover the cooperation with stakeholders as fully as possible. The structure reflects the current state and defines groups of stakeholders significant for the Group – they are investors, consumers, suppliers, employees and local communities. The report provides information on affiliates and subsidiaries operating in Moscow and several other regions. There is only minimal information on STRIM-TV as the acquisition was actually completed only in the early 2009. In the next report period we are planning to fully cover the social activity of all our regional subsidiaries operating in 70 cities of Russia and adjacent territories.

Efforts to prepare the social reporting were contributed by virtually all the COMSTAR-UTS group’s departments, providing information related to their areas of responsibility.

"The second completed non-financial report of the Group is an important milestone in development of the key corporate social responsibility principles in the Group. Today, social responsibility is turning to be one of the crucial factors affecting the Group development directly. We reckon ourselves to be responsible to all our stakeholders: shareholders, employees, customers, partners, suppliers, state agencies, the media, local communities, so we willingly committed to develop the company in line with the major corporate social responsibility principles, described in our Policy. We are doing our best to make the maximum contribution to the country's social development, economic prosperity and social welfare," – said Sergei Pridantsev, the president of COMSTAR-UTS group.

In 2008, COMSTAR-UTS Group started a gradual process of introducing corporate social responsibility principles. The Corporate Social Responsibility Policy was developed to be consistently integrated into the Group’s activity. A charity policy has been developed based on this policy. Implementation of these two framework documents defining the strategy of the Group, including its affiliates, in the social area is on of the key tasks for the immediate future.

The Group’s social reports for 2007 and 2008 were prepared and released in order to enhance the feedback from the stakeholders.

Every Group’s initiative in CSR are evolving strictly in line with the RT legislation, the provisions in this area of AFK Systema, the major shareholder, and using the global best practices.

In 2009, COMSTAR-UTS joined the Social Charter of the Russian Business, initiated and supported by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, being one of the first telecommunication companies that became the Charter member. According the Charter, its social mission is to achieve sustainable development of independent and responsible companies that serves the long term economic interests of the business, promotes the social peace, security and welfare of the citizens, environment preservation and respect for human rights. The complete text of the Charter is public domain at http://www.rsppvo.ru/?source=157

Currently, the company’s social report is being registered at CorporateRegister.com, the global registrar's website, that is also hosting reports of global telecommunication corporations like Vodafone, British Telecom, Telefonica SA etc., as well as in the National registry of Corporate Non-financial Reports maintained by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.