VimpelCom hit with 158 million dollar tax bill

Russian telecom operator VimpelCom http://www.vimpelcom.com has been hit by a 158 million dollar (118.65 million euro) tax bill. As the Financial Times (FT) http://www.ft.com reports, Russian authorities have claimed back taxes from the country's second-largest mobile phone company for its activity in 2001. VimpelCom has said it will appeal against the tax bill. "VimpelCom does not agree with the initial conclusion. Previously VimpelCom has always been able to regulate issues with the tax inspection at the professional level," the company said.