OREANDA-NEWS. September 16, 2010. OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel (hereinafter - Norilsk Nickel or the Company) will start publishing a series of letters addressed to its investors, in connection with recent events around the Company and in anticipation of the forthcoming Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders scheduled for October 21, reported the press-centre of Norilsk Nickel.

This time, we have expanded the circle of people who are usually described as investors and included in this circle all those who invest in the Company not only money but their time, efforts and emotions as well. It means that the letters are addressed to all who care about the future of Norilsk Nickel and who are interested in its long-term and successful development: our shareholders, employees, residents of the regions of presence, customers and partners, representatives of the government and expert community, journalists and analysts.

Publication of these letters is necessitated by the controversial coverage of situation around Norilsk Nickel, when the Company’s actual position is being interpreted arbitrarily and often extremely negatively. The informational attack started against the management of MMC Norilsk Nickel immediately after the AGM serves, in our opinion, to one and only purpose:  to discredit and destabilize the current operation of the Company to the benefit of a well-known shareholder.

We are speaking about not just some public statements, but about a large-scale and somewhat blackish PR-campaign both in Russian and international media. There are publications containing one-sided information about the Company, and sometimes the assessment of situation is being provided without prior consulting with the Company (as was done, for example, by  Novaya Gazeta, Krasnoyarsk TV channel STS-Prima and AutoRadio - Krasnoyarsk). Such publications and reports give a biased assessment of the work of corporate management and Company as a whole, pumping background information in an attempt to shake up public opinion at the regional, national and international levels, among our target groups. In our view, such behavior is not just irresponsible, but directly damaging to normal operation and goodwill of Norilsk Nickel.

Notwithstanding the above circumstances, the Company believes it is important to convey its own views on current events to the public. It is “time to gather stones”. The management of the Company is ready to summarize the results of their two-year work and give a detailed answer to the question “what next?” Our “Seven letters to investors” will also serve to this purpose. We shall publish them during the next weeks starting today.

Our intention is not to convince anyone in our righteousness or to bring forward any counter charges using the same “black PR techniques” as our opponents. Our goal is to get over our vision of the Company’s past, present and future to those who care about its future. Feel free to draw your own conclusions and ask questions which we shall be happy to answer.