Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) and ChelyabinskRegionGas (on behalf of RAO Gazprom) signed a long-term agreement on the supply of natural gas. The agreement, signed by MMK’s Commercial Director Viktor Kutishev and GD of ChelyabinskRegionGas Yuri Fisher, is going to be valid for five years. According to the contract, MMK is to receive 3 billion cubic meters of gas annually. Mr. Kutishev says the agreement makes the company feel positive that their projects (already planned out through 2012) are sure to get guaranteed power resources. Then, it also signifies an important step in the

Net loss of TGK-9 went up by 142.36% in July-September 2007; it rose from 332,918,000 RUR in the second quarter of 2007 to 806,869,000 RUR (or by 473,951,000 RUR) in the third quarter of the year. The company explains this happened because of a seasonal drop in demand for heat and therefore a decrease in sales revenues.

RusRating estimated URSA Bank’s credit rating at BB+ and its outlook as Stable last week. The agency itself was set up in 2001 and is now analyzing the financial performance of 44 Russian banks. The agency’s analysts believe URSA Bank’s rating is well deserved thanks to the bank’s strong position on the Ural and Siberian markets, its transparent ownership scheme, having some globally recognized international organizations as stockholders, efficient corporate management, and general financial success and stability. Prior to RusRating’s estimates, Fitch Ratings, the international rating agency,

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Pervouralsk Joint Stock Commercial Bank to nongovernmental financial organizations for 181 days to 1 year went down by 20.17% (from 11.65 million RUR to 9.3 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

UC RUSAL presented its One Hundred Cool Projects social welfare contest in Yekaterinburg on September 10, 2007. The contest is targeted at supporting the community service initiatives by sixth- to tenth-grade middle and high school students; for the first time this year, some contestants come from Kamensk-Uralskiy, Krasnoturinskiy, Severouralskiy, and Nizhneserginskiy districts of Sverdlovsk Region. UC RUSAL is going to spend 17,000,000 RUR on grants between July 2008 and May 2009. The One Hundred Cool Projects contest is UC RUSAL’s first grant program that has been held on a yearly basis

‘Yuri Repeta, chairman of Noviy Grad (the local developer), keeps saying the municipal authorities and NGOs are preventing the company from doing their job, which is why the buildings are commissioned with great delays, but this is not true,’ Vasiliy chairman of Right to a Dwelling, a local NGO, said to a UrBC reporter. Mr. Ganzhin feels Mr. Repeta is simply trying to make people believe he plays by the rules while suffering from the outer intervention, yet all of Noviy Grad’s problems actually stem from the company’s own dishonesty. ‘Noviy Grad never fell prey to circumstances and is not

‘The development of Sverdlovsk Region’s housing maintenance and utilities services is still being hindered by the painstakingly sluggish payment of housing bills by the local population. In fact, people have grown so careless that their debts come to something between 1 billion and 1.7 billion RUR a month. We’ve tried to get tougher with the non-payers, yet they still owe the services 7.8 billion RUR altogether,’ Sverdlovsk Region’s Deputy Minister for Construction and Housing Maintenance and Utilities Bogdan Protsyk said at the regional cabinet meeting. Mr. Protsyk claimed the region’s

‘We haven’t heard a thing of a possible tobacco price increase yet, but this could easily happen. Producers have a right to raise prices for objective reasons, because of the inflation, for instance. If they choose to do so, tobacco may grow over 15% more expensive than now,’ Westline Company Ltd’s Commercial Director Olga Lototskaya said to UrBC. Starting January 1, 2007, tobacco producers have to indicate the maximum retail price on each pack of cigarettes they make, and this price can’t be changed any more often than once a month. Rumor has it that a number of tobacco companies are

SKB-Bank organized a cabbage-throwing contest in Surgut on November 4, 2007 (a state holiday in Russia and the day the bank celebrated its 17th anniversary). The championship was held in a square next to Surgut State University; the agenda of the event included both the cabbage-throwing proper and other entertaining activities like round dancing, cabbage volleyball, and treating people to cabbage pies and cabbage-filled pancakes. A 29-year-old plumber Vyacheslav Soldatov, whose cabbage flew a distance of forty-seven meters, won the first prize of $300. Such championships have already been

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for up to 30 days went down by 82.89% (from 85.734 million RUR to 14.666 million RUR) in January-October 2007.

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel took a pre-election leave until November 30, 2007. The decision had to be taken due to the Governor’s taking part in the State Duma elections. Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Viktor Koksharov is going to be acting Governor for the time being.