Despite the fact that this is said to be an appellate ruling, Telenor had no prior notice of the case, and has not been able to obtain a copy of the court's decision. "As far as we are aware, Telenor is not a party to the case, although it is clearly part of Alfa's ongoing effort to undermine the Kyivstar Shareholders Agreement that its own executives negotiated and signed,” said Telenor Chief Press Spokesman Dag Melgaard.

"It is absurd for Alfa to suggest that it had nothing to do with the negotiation of the Kyivstar Shareholders Agreement," said Melgaard. "Alfa's own legal counsel and Alfa executives Alexander Tolchinsky, Kirill Stein and Andrei Shtyrba negotiated this agreement, with periodic involvement from Peter Aven and Mikhail Fridman. Storm's former Ukrainian owners were not involved in these discussions. However, based on past experience, we know Alfa is willing to violate and attack agreements to which it is a party when they no longer suit its business purposes."

"This is the bottom line," said Melgaard. "Telenor owns 56.5% of the shares of Kyivstar and Alfa owns 43.5%. The Kyivstar Shareholders Agreement is governed by New York law and provides for arbitration under the UNCITRAL Rules in New York. There is currently an ongoing arbitration proceeding concerning Alfa's other violations of the Shareholders Agreement. While we have not yet been able to obtain any of the court documents, the procedure by which this decision was obtained appears to be highly irregular and contrary to governing law. Telenor will, of course, address it in the appropriate forum, including bringing it to the attention of Ukrainian authorities," said Melgaard.