Earlier, the Higher Commercial Court reversed a prior ruling by a lower appellate court in Telenor's favor, granting a petition by Storm LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alfa Group, to invalidate certain provisions of the Charter of Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar, including those related to the election of Kyivstar's Board members. Today's ruling will result in the restoration of the Charter and the Board of Kyivstar in their entirety.

"We are delighted with today's decision, which is a just and beneficial result for Kyivstar's stable operation," said Dag Melgaard, Telenor Vice President for Corporate Communications.

Telenor also said today that it will continue to seek legal remedies and enforce its rights through New York arbitration proceedings against Storm, as required under the Kyivstar Shareholders Agreement.

"The cases filed by Storm in Ukrainian courts have only one objective – to undermine Telenor's control of Kyivstar," said Melgaard. "The Higher Commercial Court has recognized that there are no grounds for overturning the negotiated and approved corporate governance provisions of Kyivstar's charter, which are in full compliance with Ukrainian law."

Telenor owns a 56.5% controlling stake in Kyivstar, and Storm holds the remaining 43.5%.