Alexander Matuschka joins VimpelCom as Group Chief Performance Officer

Amsterdam (July 1, 2015) - VimpelCom Ltd. (“VimpelCom”, “Company” or “Group”) (NASDAQ: VIP), a leading global provider of telecommunications services, headquartered in Amsterdam and serving over 218 million customers, today announces that Alexander Matuschka joins VimpelCom as Group Chief Performance Officer.

Alexander comes to VimpelCom from Nokia Networks where he was Chief Transformation Officer and, previously, Chief Restructuring Officer. Alexander has played a crucial role in Nokia’s turnaround since joining the company in 2011.

Jean-Yves Charlier, Chief Executive Officer, VimpelCom, says: “A major initiative of the new strategic framework that we will outline to shareholders in August, is to significantly improve our operational efficiencies and reduce our cost structure. I am delighted that Alexander Matuschka, a senior executive with extensive experience and a proven track record, is joining us to lead a key initiative of the transformation programme of VimpelCom. His experience of both the Telecom and automobile sectors will be extremely valuable to drive the transformational operating model we are embarking on.”

Alexander adds. “Successful transformations all have a number of core principles in common: shared ownership, clear objectives and targets as well as a willingness to embrace a rigorous methodology that enables people to be successful and change to be sustainable. It is clear to me that VimpelCom intends to drive its own transformation along these lines and I am excited to be a part of this journey with one of the world’s leading global Telecom operators.”

Currently a supervisory board member of Scout24, which delivers digital marketplaces and buyer guides in 22 countries, Alexander is the holder of a joint Bachelor’s degree in International Economy from International Business School, Lippstadt in Germany and West Virginia University in the US. Alexander has considerable experience in working across VimpelCom’s geographic footprint, including Russia, Italy, the Indian sub-continent as well as the Maghreb in North Africa. He is Six Sigma and Kaizen trained, and will report to VimpelCom Chief Executive Officer, Jean-Yves Charlier.