MOSCOW, March 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, announced the election of new members to the Mechel OAO Management Board, the Company's collegial executive body.

The election of new members to the Mechel OAO Management Board was approved by the Mechel OAO Board of Directors on March 12, 2009.

Igor Zyuzin, Mechel OAO CEO, was reelected as new Management Board Chairman. Vladimir Polin, Mechel OAO Senior Vice-president, was elected as First Deputy Management Board Chairman and Evgeny Mikhel, Mechel OAO Vice President for Legal Affairs, was elected as Deputy Management Board Chairman.

The following individuals were elected to be members of the Management Board:

Viktor Gvozdev, Mechel Energo OOO CEO; Andrey Deineko, Mechel Management OOO CEO; Irina Ipeeva, Mechel OAO Director of Department for Corporate Management and Property, the Main Corporate Lawyer; Oleg Korzhov, Mechel Management OOO Deputy CEO for Economy and Finance; Gennady Ovchinnikov, Mechel Ferroalloys Management Company OOO CEO; Stanislav Ploschenko, Mechel OAO CFO; Elena Selivanova, Mechel OAO Director of Human Resources Department; Alexander Starodubov, Managing Director of Mecheltrans OOO; Igor Khafizov, Mechel Mining Management Company CEO; Mukhamed Tsikanov, Mechel OAO Senior Vice President on Economics and Management.

The resolution approving the "Bylaw on the Collegial Executive Body (Management Board)" of Mechel OAO was adopted at the Extraordinary General Shareholders' Meeting on August 6, 2007. The Management Board was created to enable the Company's management team to more expediently make essential business decisions after consulting with the members of the Management Board.

Mechel is one of the leading Russian companies. Its business includes four segments: mining, steel, ferroalloy and power. Mechel unites producers of coal, iron ore concentrate, steel, rolled products, ferroalloys, hardware, heat and electric power. Mechel products are marketed domestically and internationally.

Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of Mechel, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We wish to caution you that these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. We do not intend to update these statements. We refer you to the documents Mechel files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Form 20-F. These documents contain and identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned "Risk Factors" and "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" in our Form 20-F, that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among others, the achievement of anticipated levels of profitability, growth, cost and synergy of our recent acquisitions, the impact of competitive pricing, the ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and licenses, the impact of developments in the Russian economic, political and legal environment, volatility in stock markets or in the price of our shares or ADRs, financial risk management and the impact of general business and global economic conditions.

SOURCE Mechel OAO