According to the spokesperson for Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region, it ordered SverdlovEnergo, the local heat and power supplier, to eliminate all the violations of Provision on Competition and Limiting Monopolist Activity on Consumer Goods Market on September 27, 2006. SverdlovEnergo violated the legislation by preventing the other supplier from entering the wholesale market and was reluctant to sign the agreement that would allow the use of their networks in the way suitable for Ural Chemical Company. The corresponding complaint was placed with the antimonopoly service by

‘The legal suit involving Ilya Gaffner is going to damage the customer confidence in EuroGreen,’ the spokesperson for Intellis Legal Advice Ltd. said to UrBC representative. The verdict of guilty was returned on September 20, thus closing the case that had to do with arrears of wages to employees of SevTymenTransPut; the guilt of the accused was fully proved, with Mr Gaffner getting three years on parole with a 12-month probation period. The public prosecution authorities of Yamalo-Nenetsk Autonomous Region appealed the decision based on extreme leniency of the sentence.

Ural Airlines have already serviced 1.7 times more transit passengers in the nine months of 2006 compared to January-September 2005. The company plans on performing flights to 19 destinations (including Dushanbe, Moscow, Yerevan, Nadym, Nizhnevartovsk, Novosibirsk, Noviy Urengoi, Salekhard, Samara, Saint Petersburg, Mineralniye Vodi, Sochi, Tashkent, Hudzhant, Chita, Vladivostok, Irkutsk, Khabarovsk, and Yakutsk) in the winter of 2006/2007. These flights provide for over 70 two-sided interfacings that offer the best conditions for a passenger to travel to the place they need with a connection

MetcomBank JSC has recently reduced the minimal annual interest rate for mortgage loans from 11.5% to 11%. The loan terms provide for 15 years of payments, given that the client has paid for at least 50% of the dwelling. The maximal mortgage interest rate is now .5% less as well and amounts to 14%; this rate is set for 30-year loans, given that the client has paid for at least 10% of the dwelling. ‘Reducing our mortgage rates is quite logical and has to do with the development of Russian economy and current state of the real estate market. Besides, the bank supports the mortgage program

The Municipal Engineering, Architecture and Land Resources Administration approved of the project design of Parkoviy trade and entertainment center, reports the spokesperson for the Olips, the project developer. The company is currently drawing up all the documents that need to be approved of in order to start the construction. The would-be center is expected to be located in Lunacharskiy-Tveritin-Bolshakov-Krasnoarmeyskaya streets, with the total area coming to 74,554 square meters plus 27,716 square meters of underground parking area meant for 1,190 cars. Most of the center will be occupied

Russian Copper Company participated in the forum of bordering regions of Russia and Kazakhstan on October 2-3, 2006. The forum took place in Uralsk (Kazakshtan) and was devoted to the possible areas of cooperation, resulting in a number of important agreements on further development of bilateral cooperation. Russian Copper Company presented its Kazakhstan-based project, Aktybinsk Copper Company, and this presentation was attended by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Nursultan Nazarbaev, who had a chance to look at the range of products offered by the company. Mr Putin paid great attention to all

‘ Most small businesses in Chelyabinsk Region deal in wholesale and retail trade (47.7%). This might be due to the fact that trade is the field of business with the lowest starting capital needed; these data are comparable to the average Russian figures that come to 45.8%,’ Deputy Minister for Economic Development of Chelyabinsk Region Igor Lashmanov said to UrBC representative. ‘I’d like to emphasize that Chelyabinsk also usually gets on Russia’s top largest cities list in terms of per capita amount of trade centers and areas. The same is true of cafes, restaurants and the like, which means

The bank looked at its success on October 1, 2006; its balance sheet total came to 26.64bn RUR, which exceeds the figures for October 2005 by 94%. The bank’s profit amounted to over 803m RUR at the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2006, which is 90% better than a year earlier. The company’s authorized capital reached the point of 742m RUR, with owned capital coming to 1.89bn RUR (60% better than in October 2005). The net indebtedness rose by 103% and amounted to 16.42bn RUR. The deposit investments increased by 102% and reached the point of 15.85bn RUR, including the natural person accounts