Koltsovo airport customs officers averted an attempt of smuggling currency to Germany at the airport’s international terminal, where one of the passengers with a ticket for Yekaterinburg-Munich flight chose not to declare a large sum of foreign currency when using the ‘green light’, says the spokesperson for Ural Customs Administration. The random check procedure made it clear that the passenger had ?10,870 and 10,000 RUR on him, which is against the existing law. The customs officers filed a criminal suit against the offender, accusing him of smuggling.

‘The results of the public offering launched by Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Industrial Complex appear to be rather controversial. On the one hand, the company did achieve its goal of offering a certain number of shares, but on the other, the shares were offered more cheaply than the in the course of regular transactions, which is why they dropped by almost 5% at MICEX the next day. All in all, this IPO failed our expectations, although the prices could actually be even lower,’ Director of Ural subsidiary of Accord-Invest Investment Company Konstantin Selyanin said to UrBC. Magnitogorsk

Kurgan customs officers found and withdrew 1,421 counterfeited items in January-March 2007 and eighty two items as recently as last week, reports Ural Customs Administration. There were, among other things, a few scores of phonogram-bearing DVDs arrested at Zverinogolovskiy division; the disks were hidden in an Audi going to Kazakhstan. The offender will have to undergo an administrative suit.

Rosselkhoznadzor (the state agricultural watchdog) intends to send a group of Russian vets to look into just how effective the performance of their Brazilian counterparts is. Some vets will be sent to specifically check the quality of meat supplied to Russia. The delegation is expected to set off before May 1, 2007. All this is brought about by Rosselkhoznadzor’s (probably grounded) suspicions that 13 Brazilian enterprises have been importing adulterated meat produce to Russia.

Russian Copper Company is currently putting up a mine at Priorskoye deposit, the company’s press officer says. The estimated capacity of the mine will come to .5 million tons of copper-zinc ore a year; the project requires $65 million worth of investments and is expected to be launched in the first quarter of 2008. Besides, Russian Copper Company is going to expand a processing shop at 50-letiya Oktyabrya deposit in order to raise its annual output to 5 million tons of ore, 60,000 tons of copper, and 50,000 tons of zinc. The newly renovated shop will be launched at the beginning of 2008 as

West Siberian Metallurgical Industrial Complex (part of Evraz Group) assessed its conservational activity in January-March 2007. 22 of its departments underwent internal environmental audit procedures which proved that the state of events in the field of conservation was much better than a year earlier. Over 115 executives and experts attended professional development workshops devoted to hazardous waste management, environmental management, environmental safety, and rational nature management. The company also renovated a number of facilities in the coal-cleaning plant, one of the coking

Bank Interaction Committee (chaired by Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government and Minister of Economics and Labor Galina Kovaleva) met in Yekaterinburg. Their meeting was attended by executives from 40 regional and federal banks and law-enforcement officers. Some of the reports were presented by acting head of the Bank of Russia in Sverdlovsk Region L. Malykh, chairman of Ural Union of Bankers V. Muranova, first deputy chairman of Ural Bank of Sberbank of Russia L. Shilchikova, director of Yekaterinburg-based office of URSA Bank M. Krasnikov, director of Bank24.ru B. Dyakonov, and

Rosselkhoznadzor (the state agricultural watchdog) prevented the import of 27 tons of Turkish lemons found to have unacceptably high chlorpyriphos content to Russia. According to Rosselkhoznadzor’s press officer, even though the Turkish authorities have promised to protect the quality of their produce and to certify every single box meant for Russia, this particular shipment had neither the safety certificate nor the obligatory data on the pesticide content. In addition, Rosselkhoznadzor did not allow 19 tons of dimethoate-treated apples from Lithuania to be imported, since the country’s

The Department of Internal Affairs in Ural Federal District and regional division of the Federal Drug Control Service revealed and prevented nearly 6,000 drug-related crimes in January-March 2007, which is 10% better than a year earlier (the figure comes to 31% in Sverdlovsk Region, to 14.7% in Chelyabinsk Region, and to 7.2% in Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Region), says the spokesperson for Prosecutor-General's Office in Ural Federal District. So far this year, officers have been able to prevent over 4,000 drug-selling attempts, including those with very large portions of drugs involved.

Ural Airlines started to perform Chelyabinsk-Moscow flight in January 2007 and has been coming up with more and more offers for the South Urals ever since. The carrier has recently introduced a new Chelyabinsk-Saint Petersburg-Chelyabinsk flight from Balandino airport, reports the company’s press officer. Beginning from May 5, 2007, a TU 134 will leave Balandino at 5.30 PM and arrive at Pulkovo airport at 6.45 PM. The plane then takes off in Saint Petersburg at 7.45 PM and arrives in Chelyabinsk at 12.50 AM. The cheapest tickets will be available for only 5,000 RUR, the press officer says,