* Cites handling of Vimpelcom probe

* Chairman has resigned with immediate effect

* Telenor shares down 2.6 percent, Vimpelcom down 6.0 pct (Adds comments from minister, analysts, share price reaction)

By Ole Petter Skonnord and Stine Jacobsen

OSLO, Oct 30 Norwegian telecoms group Telenor's chairman Svein Aaser has resigned following a dispute with the Norwegian state over his handling of a long-running investigation into affiliate Vimpelcom's dealings in Uzbekistan, the company and the government said on Friday.

"I no longer have trust in the chairman of Telenor," Industry Minister Monica Maeland said in a statement.

The Norwegian government holds a 54 percent stake in Telenor, which in turn owns 33 percent of Vimpelcom, the international telecoms group controlled by Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman.

Telenor said earlier this month it would put its stake in Vimpelcom up for sale after new Chief Executive Sigve Brekke decided to sell following a review of the holding, which he undertook after taking over from Jon Fredrik Baksaas in August.

But Maeland said she had lost confidence in the way Aaser has handled the police investigation into Vimpelcom's activities in Uzbekistan after receiving unspecified new information about the case.

"This is information that both the Norwegian Parliament's Control and Constitutional Committee and I should have received earlier. I believe this is serious," she said.

"It is my view that the board of Telenor has not handled this case well enough," Maeland later told Reuters.

Authorities in the United States and the Netherlands, where Vimpelcom has its financial headquarters, said last year they were investigating Vimpelcom's operations in Uzbekistan, without providing further detail.

Telenor has said the investigation is into allegations that unlawful payments were made by Vimpelcom to secure a network operating licence in Uzbekistan.

SIMILAR PROBE

It also points in a statement on its website to a similar probe by Swedish prosecutors of rival telecoms firm TeliaSonera , over allegations that TeliaSonera paid around $350 million for its Uzbek 3G mobile network licence to a company it knew was a front for the daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov, Gulnara Karimova.

"We currently have no comment beyond what we have publicly disclosed regarding this matter and we will update our disclosure as appropriate," Vimpelcom spokesman Neil Moorhouse said in an e-mailed statement.

Telenor shares were down 2.6 percent at 160.7 crowns by 1505 GMT, while TeliaSonera was down 0.1 percent and the STOXX Europe 600 telecoms sector index was down 0.5 percent. Vimpelcom's U.S.-listed shares declined 6.0 percent.

Maeland said she was first informed verbally by Aaser about the new information in the case last Friday.

"I asked him to have it in writing and received it on Wednesday afternoon. We later had an additional meeting yesterday to get more information," she said.

She did not specify what the new information received was, out of concern for the police investigation.

The Control and Constitutional Committee said it would hold a hearing about the case on Tuesday, Norwegian news agency NTB reported.

"The Ministry and I have had different views on the handling of the Vimpelcom issue," Aaser said in a statement announcing his resignation. "I would like to emphasise that it is VimpelCom that is under investigation and that Telenor has fully cooperated with investigating authorities as a witness.

"The company continues to await the outcome of the investigation." (Writing by Gwladys Fouche; Editing by David Holmes and Greg Mahlich)