Yuri Sapronov was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the RWS company

On 15th of July, 2008 in accordance with CJSC “RWS” Board Resolution Yuri Sapronov was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Russian World Studios company.

“We founded the RWS company together with Andrey Sapronov (general director of Sistema Mass Media since 04.07.08) 10 years ago. RWS brand was conceived as innovative and ambitious, since the abbreviation stands for the Russian World Studios. And we realize the ideas contained in this name. We have already taken steps in this direction: studios in Moscow, Saint Petersburg; collaboration with our colleagues in the Mediterranean, India, China… and this is just the beginning. Main investments should be done in human resources. We need creativity and talents. This is the way to go and not only for our company, but for Russia as well,” – Yuri Sapronov commented on the event.
At the end of 2007 RWS formed the strategic alliance with JSFC “Sistema”, the largest consumer-oriented holding company in Russia. Together with the new partner RWS has the ability to develop the core lines of business more actively: producing, provision of film production services and distribution of film and television content.
Biography profile: Sapronov Yuri Anatolievich

He was born on the 25th of March, 1964 in Saint Petersburg. In 1990 he graduated from the St. Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy.
Yuri Sapronov started his career in 1987 on the “Lenfilm” film studio, occupied different positions from film senior administrator to VkhPo deputy director. In 1990 he was appointed deputy director of the “Saint-Petersburg” Creative Production Association, and in 1991 – of the “Petrograd-film” film studio. In 1993 Yuri Sapronov became vice-president of the “East Europe Entertainment” company.
Since 1996 Yuri Sapronov is director general of the “Videoart-Profi” television company, and since 1998 - director general of “Interactive Television Ltd.”.
Starting from 2003 Yuri Sapronov is general producer of the Russian World Studios company. At the end of 2007 the film-production company was reorganized into a RWS and JSFC “Sistema” joint venture company, CJSC “RWS”, and Yuri Sapronov was appointed first deputy director general, head of the production division.
Yuri Sapronov is married with one son.
 
Realized Projects: “Prodlenie roda”, “Kronika satany mladshego”,  “Svadebny marsh”; 1990 – producer of the film “Gorkaya sudba Kateriny Izmailovoi”; 1991 – “Adam Smith’s Money World” (RUSSIA - USA) – executive producer; 1995 – co-producer of the Russian-Japanese project “The Successor” (aka “Naslednik”); 1996-1998 – producer of the following projects (television shows):  “Remont, “Popadi v kadr”, “Papa, mama, ya – sportivnaya semiya”, “Teletubbies” (aka “Telepuziki”), of the Russian-American film “Dance with Me” (aka “Tantsui so mnoi”) and of the film “Zhestokoe vremya”.

In RWS Company:
TV-series: “Ginger” (aka “Ryzhaya”), “Sea Patrol” (aka “Morskoi patrul”), “The Champion”, “Atlantis” (aka “Atlantida”), “Maroseyka, 12”, “Cobra”, “Cobra. Antiterror”, “Zona”, “Young and Wicked” (aka “Molodiye i Zliye”), “Avtonomka”, “Pain” (aka “Vrachebnaya Tayna”), “Lines of Fate” (aka “Linii Sudbi”), “Ice Age” (aka “Lednikoviy Period”), “Ambulance” (aka “Neotlozhka”), “Poor Anastasya” (aka “Bednaya Nastya”). Feature films: “Antidope” (aka “Antidur”), “The Kaleidoscope”, “Snezhnyi Angel”, “The Spirit” (aka “Dukh”), “Icon” (aka “Ikona”).
The film “The Spirit” (aka “Dukh”), which is a director’s debut of the famous English actor Joseph Fiennes, received one the most prestigious film awards in the world, “Cinema for Peace”, at Berlinale - 2008. TV-series “Atlantis” (aka “Atlantida”), “Zona” and “Pain” (aka “Vrachebnaya Tayna”) have been nominated at the festivals in Monaco and Canada.

JSFC “Sistema” is the largest public diversified corporation in Russia, which manages fast growing companies operating in the consumer services sector and has over 80 million customers. It develops and manages a portfolio of businesses in various service-based industries including telecommunications, high technology, banking, real estate, retail and mass media. Founded in 1993, the company reported revenues of US$ 13.7 billion in 2007 (unaudited), and total assets of US$ 28.4 billion on the 31st December, 2007 (unaudited). Sistema's shares were listed under the symbol "SSA" on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), under the symbol "AFKS" on the Russian Trading System (RTS), under the symbol “AFKS” on the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX), and under the symbol "SIST" on the Moscow Stock Exchange (MSE).

Head of Press Office  JSFC “Sistema” 
Svetlana Vitkovskaya
Tel.: + 7 (495) 730 1705
Mob.: + 7 (910) 409 6338
vitkovskaya@sistema.ru


Investor Relations Manager
Leila Simanova
Tel.: +7 (495) 730 6600
simanova@sistema.ru

Russian World Studios was founded in 1998 and it is one of the leading film production companies in Russia, and the leader in the film production-related services market. Today the foreign representatives of RWS operate in London, Luxemburg, Hong Kong and Los Angeles. The studio cooperates with the largest international companies: SONY Pictures Television International, Hallmark Entertainment, HBO Films, Beacon Pictures and others.   
RWS studio facilities that meet the highest international standards offer a whole range of top-quality film production services and continuously meet the growing market demand. By 2007 the number of projects RWS serviced annually crossed the mark of 300.
In 2007 the company produced 300 hours of in-house content. RWS continues to enlarge its content library with diverse genres of top-quality products, and it cooperates with the largest studios, distribution and production companies all over the world.

Further information:  
Deputy Head of RWS Corporate Affairs Division
Dmitry Perminov 
Tel.: + 7 (495) 648 74 07
Mob.: + 7 (919) 784 89 60

RWS Press-attaché
Yelena Shendler
Tel.: + 7 (495) 648 74 07
Mob.: + 7 (919) 784 89 34 
shendler@rwstudio.com