Ural Bank of Sberbank of Russia conducted a prize-winning lottery for its customers; seven travel tours were at stake. In order to become a participant, one had to open a bank account in Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, or Chelyabinsk Regions or in Bashkortostan between January 22 and March 18, 2007. There had to be at least 30,000 RUR ($1,000, ?1,000) in the bank account on March 19, 2007, and the account had to be valid for at least two years. 25,000 customers were thus eligible to participate; the computer randomly chose the names of the winners, who will be able to decide on the date and destination

Mayor of Yekaterinburg Arkadiy Chernetskiy met city district heads to make sure all the cleanup activities in the streets and backyards were performed thoroughly. According to the spokesperson for the city council, the mayor also looked into how the problems revealed in the course of site inspections had been dealt with. The Mayor said the cleanup process had to be completed very soon, so this and the next week should be devoted to finishing up with the streets and sidewalks. Some districts will have to catch up with the others in terms of de-cluttering the streets or in terms of handling the

Sverdlovsk Region traffic wardens’ performance was assessed by the regional public prosecution bodies; a lot of violations were found, including cases of wardens getting engaged in profit-making activity. In Asbest, for example, a criminal suit was filed against an officer who was selling cars imported from abroad. In Slobodo-Turinskiy area, one of the local officers turned out to be the co-founder of an agricultural co-operative. Some employees happened to be direct subordinates of their close relatives. In addition, traffic wardens would sometimes illegally allow placing advertising

Former Operational Director Ekaterina Golyanova was appointed Deputy Chairperson of SKB-Bank; the decision was taken by the Board of Directors. ‘This new appointment has to do with the bank’s continuous attempts to expand the business and build up infrastructure as well as to improve our operational performance. Our assets doubled last year, and so did the number of offices and subsidiaries. 30 new points of sale were set up in 2006. Both the retail and business areas of the bank’s activity have been developing rapidly, new products and technologies are being introduced all the time. Ms

Ural Customs Administration officers revealed a case of smuggling in the airport of Nizhnevartovsk: a man flying to Azerbaijan on a Nizhnevartovsk-Baku flight failed to declare $11,000. The officers managed to disclose the trick and, since the offender never filled a declaration and did not indicate the sum of money he was taking along (which is obligatory for any amount of cash), he will have to undergo a criminal suit and might get up to five years in prison for smuggling. The decision, however, rests with the court. The investigation is currently in progress; the money was withdrawn and

Federal Transport Surveillance Agency completed the investigation of UTair Airlines related to the crash of the company’s TU 134 plane in the airport of Samara on March 17, 2007. The investigation was mainly conducted in the company’s headquarters in Tyumen as well as in the regional offices in Surgut, Khanty-Mansiysk, Syktyvkar, and Ufa. After it found some violations in the way the flights were organized, the Agency imposed flight performance limitations and issued a warning. UTair’s TU 134 pilots without a sufficient experience in the capacity of an aircraft commander were not permitted to

President of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin appointed former First Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Railways Valeriy Fomin the company’s acting Head, First Vice President of Russian Railways Vadim Morozov announced at the meeting of company’s Board with heads of five railway companies based in the Urals and in Western Siberia in Yekaterinburg. The Board of Directors of Russian Railways decided at a meeting in Moscow on March 20, 2007 that Head of Sverdlovsk Region Railways Shevket Shaidullin should resign. There were no official comments on the reasons for his resignation, though Gudok

Expert Ural magazine published the rating of Ural Region’s largest banks in terms of net wealth in 2006 on March 26, 2007. The rating was compiled by Expert Ural analytical center. Bank24.ru went up 7 positions compared to 2005 and thus became the region’s 23d largest bank. It also hit 8th among all Yekaterinburg banks, outstripping Koltso Urala, MDM Bank Ural, Grancombank, UralFinPromBank and a number of others. The bank’s assets went up 82% (from 2,725 million RUR to 4,966 million) last year. Its capital reached the point of 457 million, which exceeds the figures for the beginning of 2006

‘Mismanagement of litter and industrial waste is one of the most commonly occurring environmental offenses. There are almost no recycling facilities within the area, so land fills and cesspits around Yekaterinburg are gradually becoming a life-threatening litter circle that smothers the city. The same is true of most other towns,’ says Sverdlovsk Region Environmental Prosecutor Kirill Ershov. ‘So far, our only achievement in this field has been the launch of a separating assembly line in Pervouralsk. It took us so long to set everything up, however, that the equipment became outdated by the

Acting trustee in bankruptcy of HydroSpetsStroy Ltd. (general contractor of Noviy Grad, the developer) Olga Rushitskaya tried to enter the company’s office at 13 Vosmoye Marta St. on April 5, 2007, but former Noviy Grad CEO Yuri Repeta and director of Tamasi Mr. Gogia as well as Noviy Grad security guards prevented her from going in. Ms Rushitskaya had to sign a contract with the general contractor, who removed the latch from the builder’s fire exit to make it possible for Ms Rushitskaya to enter the office. The law-enforcement officers and the prosecutor who arrived at the scene stated