The Board of Directors of Integrated Metallurgical Complex of Chelyabinsk JSC decided to set up a collegiate seven-member Management Board of the Association. Alexei Alekseyev, Alexander Kolchin, Anton Levada, Valentina Nekrasova, Petr Cherkasov and Vladimir Kaukin were elected to the Board. Vladimir Polin joined the Management Board as Chairman due to his position of GD of Mechel Management Company Ltd. (the sole executive body of the Complex and its management company). The Board of Directors also decided to elect Mr Alexeyev Deputy Chairman of the Management Board and to permit Mr Polin to

On October 29, 2006, an air-gas mixture explosion occurred at No. 2 firing house of UralCement JSC located in the village of Korkino. The explosion had been caused by a sudden gas pressure jump that resulted in a gas escape and a gas bolt fracture at the technological gas pipeline. The explosion destroyed the kiln control center and caused a collapse of the reinforced concrete constructions on area of 2,000 square meters, the spokesperson for Chelyabinsk Region Department of Emergencies said to UrBC representative. At the moment of explosion, 11 company employees were at the firing shop. 10

In the third quarter of 2006, net profit of Mechanical Engineering Works of Kopeysk JSC went down by 27.1% against the figures for the previous quarter. According to the company’s press release, the profit decrease was effected by a reduction in sale proceeds. The company’s net profit dropped from 88.093m RUR in the second quarter of 2006 down to 64.21m RUR in the third quarter, so the decrease amounted to 23.883m RUR.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region ordered Teplovodocanal Ltd., the local water supplier, to stop violating competition law (Article 5 (paragraph 1) of Competition and Monopoly Limitations on Commodities Markets Bill). The Service received a complaint from Sredneuralskiy Teplovodocanal Ltd. that claimed that Teplovodocanal Ltd. was exerting pressure on them to make them sign an additional agreement providing for maintenance of sewerage and in-house services. These two companies had already signed a water supplying and wastewater-handling agreement. The Federal Antimonopoly

Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil (part of Evraz Group) has set up an organizational committee responsible for getting ready for the International Young Experts’ Conference. The committee consists of the company’s Chief Engineer and the directors of most shops as well as directors of some departments. The conference will take place at the end of November and will be made up of ten specialized sections (metallurgical processing, transportation, power engineering, IT-technologies and personnel management). The applications have already been received from all of Russia’s

Over 200 people checked out the stand of Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank at the job fair called Career Day 2006 that took place at the Sports Palace of Yekaterinburg on October 27, 2006. Among over 30 participants were the regional banks, including Citibank, Joint-stock commercial bank AK BARS JSC, Ural division of the Bank of Russia, and Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank. According to the personnel experts of the bank, the age of job candidates ranged between 20 and 40, with the potential employees taking interest in all the vacancies the bank had to offer, particularly those in the fields of

Vanadium Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise of Kachkanar (part of Evraz Group) is going to hold a professional skill competition; this has already become traditional and popular at the tractor shop. This year, 20 people are going to compete. Each motorcade will present a few crews of experienced and dignified drivers who will be assessed by a competent jury headed by the Chief Safety and Labour Protection Engineer. The candidates will have to pass five exams, one of which is theoretical and concerns the traffic regulations; the other four exams are practical. Based on the results, three

First Dairy Company Ltd. and UniMilk Holding are going to sign a purchasing agreement concerning Municipal Milk Plant of Nizhniy Tagil before the end of December 2006. According to the spokesperson from Sverdlovsk Region Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the plant in question has been idle for about a year, whereas its capacity is estimated at up to 100 tons of produce daily.

Over 1,000 employees of Vysokogorskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise (part of Evraz Group) have retrained for second qualification or got professional development training in the nine months of 2006. This is two times better than the average, with new experts including drilling operators and sinkers. The employee professional training is performed according to the corporate standards; the activity of the Personnel Training Department has been licensed and entitled to give 179 qualifications to its students by the Ministry of Education. The enterprise is currently assembling the new team

2

1

According to the Central Bank of Russia, non-resident legal entities placed 17% less money (28,294,000 RUR in September compared with 34,265,000 RUR in January) for a term of over three years with UralTransBank in January-September 2006.

Since the beginning of the year, IES Multiutilites have invested over 30m RUR in equipment upgrading, reports the company’s spokesperson. For instance, new gas boilers were installed in the villages of Krystalniy, Novoalexeevskiy, Bitimka, and Verknyaya Tura. Besides, new polyurethane pipes were installed in Nizhnyaya and Verknyaya Turas and Kachkanar, which is estimated to reduce the heat loss by almost 40%.

Utel (aka UralSvyazInfrom), the local telecommunications provider, lost the special domain name it had in MOBI, the public domain designed for mobile phones and wireless devices. The domain (UTEL MOBI) was registered on behalf of the company by OK SUN of Seoul, Korea, on October 9, 2006. OK SUN is now the official proprietor of the name. The registration with MOBI domain started on May 22, 2006; the domain hosts mobile-viewing-friendly sites, that is, small-formatted ones suitable for downloading via a low-speed channel. MOBI is strongly supported by mobile phone makers and mobile operators.

Vysokogorskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise (part of Evraz Group) repaired the railways located near Ploshchadka station. This major transportation junction services all carriages belonging to Russian Railways. During the third quarter of 2006, the company built an additional receiving-departure stub end fit for 45 to 50 wagons and 2 railway slopes with the total length of 800 meters. The technicians are currently busy assembling the aerial contact wire on all the sites. These reconstructions will make it possible to raise the capacity of the station and make the performance of the

Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank gave presents to winners of Debut, Yekaterinburg festival of young authors and artists, on October 25, 2006. Debut has celebrated its tenth anniversary this year, with the ceremony taking place in Yekaterinburg Children’s Theatre. The winners received congratulations from the representatives of the city council, municipal Duma, United Russia (one of the country’s leading political parties), U.S. Consulate General, British Council in Yekaterinburg, local libraries and book publishers, and Ural writers. Five school students won Grand-Prix (Debut-2006). Sverdlovsk

Chelyabinsk Region Distribution, Processing, and Collection of Press JSC is going to hold an extraordinary general meeting on November 16, 2006. The points on the agenda include amendments to the company’s Charter and to the Provision on the General shareholder meeting as well as Provision on the Board of Directors and RosPechat, their executive body.

The Federal Court of Central District of Chelyabinsk returned the verdict of guilty concerning the client who had performed a large-scale fraud against a bank called National Factoring Company Ltd. According to the Bank’s spokesperson, Mr G. Yu. Nesterov, the director and co-founder of UralElectroComplect Ltd., provided the bank with falsified data on the alleged deliveries to consumers in order to obtain money via factoring operations. To hide his crimes and avoid responsibility, Mr Nesterov resigned and sold his shares in the company’s authorized capital to a straw person. Yet thanks to the

Maintenance Director of Ural and Volga Interregional Network Company Eduard Shapochkin awarded ChelyabEnergo, the local heat and electricity provider, with certificate of preparedness for fall and winter today. This is an official proof of the fact that the company is ready for winter. Getting the certificate is seen as a kind of an annual exam aimed at estimating the quality of repair campaign. This year, it was preceded by a lot of serious work that was divided into two stages. First, committees made up of experts from Ural and Volga Interregional Network Company, local experts, and

Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region is now considering the case of BBH, the alcohol-producing company, concerning violations of beer advertising legislation. According to the spokesperson for Advertising Law Compliance and Unfair Competition Surveillance Department of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region, the charge involves Article 22 (part II, paragraph 6) of the Advertising Law: the company allegedly placed its billboards at fewer than 100 meters away from the building of school 134 in Komsomolskaya St. in July 2006. ‘The Service has recently drawn up a