Rostelecom's ordinary shares included in MSCI Russia Standard index.

MOSCOW, August 18 (Itar-Tass) -- The Russian national telecom company
Rostelecom's ordinary shares have been included in the prestigious MSCI
Russia Standard index after a quarterly review.
Rostelecom shares account for about 3 percent of the index, Reuters
reported.
The company integrated Svyazinvest's inter-regional companies in April
of this year. It was expected that Rostelecom shares would be included in
the index last quarter, but the decision was postponed till August to
allow Rostelecom to consolidate share issues. Integrated Rostelecom share
issues started trading on the MICEX on August 10.
The MSCI Russia Standard index is a stock index of the Russian market
and is a part of the MSCI Emerging Markets indices. It is calculated on
the basis of quotations of Russian companies included in the index. These
are LUKOIL, Gazprom, Norilsk Nickel, Sberbank, MTS and its parent company
AFK Sistema.
The weight of a company's shares in the index depends on
capitalisation, the number of shares in circulation and their availability
to foreign investors. The MSCI Russian index serves as a benchmark for
many international investors that invest in Russian assets.