OREANDA-NEWS. March 02, 2012. Sistema JSFC (“Sistema”) (LSE: SSA), the largest diversified public financial corporation in Russia and the CIS, announces that it has sent a formal notice to The Republic of India notifying it of a dispute under the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of India arising from the decision of the Supreme Court of India issued on February 2, 2012 regarding the cancellation of 122 telecom licenses, including 21 licenses belonging to Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd ("SSTL"), in which Sistema owns a 56.68% share. Sistema believes that the cancellation of SSTL's licenses following Sistema's investment of billions of dollars into the Indian cellular sector is contrary to India’s obligations under the BIT, including obligations to provide investments with full protection and security and obligations not to expropriate investments.

The formal notice requests The Republic of India to settle the dispute relating to the revocation of SSTL's 21 telecom licenses in an amicable way within six months.  If the dispute is not amicably resolved by August 28, 2012 Sistema reserves the right to commence proceedings against The Republic of India as provided in the BIT.