X-ray photoelectron (XPS) studies of core-levels in Sn1-xMnxTe (x < 0.1) semimagnetic semiconductors have been performed. The spectra were acquired under UHV conditions from the clean (as-cleaved or in-situ scraped) crystal surface. The single-phase NaCl structure of the alloys studied was verified by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The structure of Sn 3d and Te 3d core-levels in SnMnTe was found fully consistent with that of SnTe. Remarkable qualitative similarity of the Mn 2p spectrum of Sn1-xMnxTe (x = 0.09) with the case of zinc-blende MnTe [R.J. Iwanowski, M.H. Hemonen, E. Janik, Chem. Phys. Lett. 387 (2004) 110] has been shown: (1) the same binding energies (BEs) of the main contributions to the Mn 2p(3/2) line, related to Mn2+ state of the bulk Mn-Te bond; (2) occurrence of low BE component in the Mn 2p spectrum, indicative of clean-surface species containing reduced-valence Mn ions (i.e. Mnq+, where 0 < q < 2); (3) strong satellites of the 2p(3/2) (Mn2+ related) parent lines. In SnMnTe, the highest intensity ratio of the satellite to main peak (ever reported for Mn 2p photoelectron spectrum) was revealed; this was interpreted in terms of the so-called charge-transfer model. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.