MECHEL ANNOUNCES NEW APPOINTMENTS IN IZHSTAL OAO

Moscow, Russia – February 1, 2011 - Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading
Russian mining and metals companies, announces the appointment of a new Managing
Director of Izhstal OAO (Izhstal), part of Mechel Group.
Konstantin Kretov, 48, was appointed Managing Director of Izhstal effective
February 1, 2011. He succeeds Valery Moiseyev, who managed the plant since 1992
and who will continue to oversee the plant’s operations as Chairman of Izhstal’s
board of directors.
UK Mechel Steel’s General Director Andrei Deineko noted that “Valery Moiseyev
has been working at Izhstal for nearly 40 years, including 18 years managing it.
With him at the helm, the plant overcame the difficult years of economic reforms
in the 1990s, having preserved its potential in production and personnel, as
well as its status as a specialty and stainless steel rolled products
manufacturer. In recent years, the plant invested much effort in boosting the
production of high value-added products. Based upon 2010 operational results,
Izhstal’s production topped pre-crisis levels. Also, under Valery Moiseyev’s
leadership the company successfully implemented a full-scale project for
reconstruction of steel-making lines and continued to upgrade its rolling mills.
These measures raised the company to a new level of technological
sophistication.
Regarding Mr. Moiseyev’s new role, Mr. Deineko commented, “As Chairman of
Izhstal OAO’s board of directors, Valery Moiseyev will now concentrate on
dealing with strategic issues – that is the task we have today for this talented
manager.
With respect to Mr. Kretov’s assumption of the position of Managing Director,
Mr. Deineko said, “Valery Moiseyev has set a very high standard in
administrating the plant. I am sure that Konstantin Kretov will successfully
continue this work. He has a great deal of practical experience in steel
production, and proved to be a skillful specialist and an experienced manager.”
Prior to this appointment Mr. Kretov began his professional career in Izhstal in
1985 as a supervisor and worked his way up to a calibrating and rolling mill
chief in 2007-2010. He was appointed chief of Izhstal’s planning, economic
analysis and pricing department in April 2010, acting as deputy managing
director for economics and finance.
Mr. Kretov graduated from Moscow Bauman Higher Technical School with a specialty
in automated steelmaking machinery.
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Mechel OAO
Ekaterina Videman
Phone: + 7 495 221 88 88
ekaterina.videman@mechel.com
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Mechel is one of Russia’s leading companies. Its business is primarily composed
of  four segments: mining, steel, ferroalloy and power. Mechel unites producers
of coal, iron ore concentrate, nickel, steel, ferrochrome, ferrosilicon, rolled
products, hardware, heat and electric power. Mechel products are marketed
domestically and internationally.
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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.