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FAS hopes for amicable agreement with Telenor by Oct

So far the conditions are confidential, because this issue relates to the relationship of different parties

MOSCOW, July 31 (Itar-Tass) — The Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) expects to sign an amicable agreement with Telenor by October 2012, FAS head Igor Artemyev told reporters on Tuesday.

According to him, on Monday the Government Commission on Foreign Investment confirmed the common desire to settle the conflict. “On behalf of the government we have already formulated and the government commission has approved a number of boundary conditions for the settlement of the dispute,” Igor Artemyev said. “The company will be notified of this in the near future.” A number of agencies, he said, will also work on these conditions. “If the company agrees to the terms, then it will be possible to count on a possible amicable agreement in courts by October,” the FAS head said. The conditions will be finally formulated in two weeks.

So far the conditions are confidential, because this issue relates to the relationship of different parties, including VimpelCom shareholders among themselves. The head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service said that one of the conditions demands that only a citizen of Russia should be director general of the JSC VimpelCom, as VimpelCom is a strategic company the work of which is also linked with matters constituting state secret in the Russian Federation.

In May, the Moscow Court of Arbitration upheld another application of the FAS on protective measures on a lawsuit against Telenor concerning the deal on increasing the company’s share in VimpelCom. It was specified in the court’s decision that it is prohibited to VimpelCom and its parent company to implement the decisions of the annual general meeting of shareholders that held on May 21, until the entry into force of the judicial act on the merits of the dispute. Thus, it is forbidden to VimpelCom to pay dividends for 2011, to withdraw the funds intended for these payments to its accounts or to accounts of other companies in foreign banks, as well as to the external auditors and the company’s elected Board of Directors - to exercise their powers.