This year, 460 school-leavers from Chelyabinsk Region will be given a chance to enter a college or a university with the help of the Governor’s full scholarship. The scholarship was introduced eleven years ago, and 3,500 people have used so far. The initial idea behind the introduction of the scholarship was to provide enough highly skilled college graduates for rural areas and small towns. Nevertheless, young people tend to prefer the urban lifestyle lately, so only about a half of students actually go back to villages and towns after getting their diplomas. This is why Governor of

Nizhniy Tagil Iron & Steel Works’ CEO Alexei Kushnarev and Social Issues Director Yuri Kuznetsov were given the International Demidov Fund diplomas for their contribution to the conservation and revival of Russia’s industrial and cultural heritage. The idea of the International Demidov Fund was first proposed by the UNESCO; the Fund aims to find and reward the most successful and active supporters of Russian industrial culture; in fact, one of the fund’s top executives is one of the Demidovs – the famous dynasty that founded the metallurgical enterprises in the Urals over three hundred

The Federal Antimonopoly Service took legal action against Uralsevergaz-NGK, claiming that the latter violated the federal bill on the protection of competition (part 1, Article 10) through imposing the disadvantageous agreement terms upon their customers. The lawsuit was initiated following Ural Gas Networks’ complaints. The spokesperson for the Service reports Uralsevergaz-NGK is currently Sverdlovsk Region’s only natural gas supplier and can boast a 65% share of the gas supply market. Ural Gas Networks owns a number of boiler installations in the region and depends on natural gas for fuel.

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel met the new top executive of Confectionery Group SladCo. The spokesperson for the Governor reports the Norwegian Orkla’s CEO introduced SladCo’s new General Director Vadim Ter-Israelyan to Eduard Rossel. Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government and Minister for Agriculture and Food Sergey Chemesov, who was also present at the meeting, said the reconstruction of the confectioner’s business and certain degree of redundancy did not result in any social clashes, and suggested that the shareholders consider expanding the range of foods the company

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to state-run for-profit organizations for 1 to 3 years dropped by 100% (from 2.916 million RUR to zero) in January-May 2008.

Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (part of ChTPZ Group)’s finishing center now became the site for assembling the OCTG production facility. At the moment, the workers are piecing together the equipment meant for manufacturing of fittings with the diameter of up to 195 mm. The shop has already been fitted with two stampers and two rinsers as well as an automated conveying system in between. Next, two saws supplied by Austrian Linsinger will have to be installed. In addition to the assembly jobs, the workers are busy with the start-up and commissioning. The enterprise is about to receive SMS Meer’s

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Bank24.ru to for-profit financial organizations for over 3 years went down by 97.83% (from 18.599 million RUR to 403,000 RUR) in January-May 2008.

RusRating estimated URSA Bank’s eighth bond issue at BB+ (Stable Outlook), which means that the agency sees URSA Bank’s financial affairs as satisfactory and steady. The bank went through with its eighth bond issue (filing number 40800323В) worth 10 billion RUR altogether on April 17, 2008. 6.203 billion RUR worth of bonds was sold during the auction, while the annual interest rate was determined at 11.19% a year. Based on this year’s performance, the profitability of the issue is expected to come to 11.5% a year. RusRating reports the bond issue’s rating is connected with the bank’s credit

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Pervouralsk Joint Stock Commercial Bank to private individuals for 31 to 90 days plummeted by 98.07% (from 3 million RUR to 58,000 RUR) in January-May 2008.

Ural Airlines started operating its flights to Simferopol and Blagoveshchensk again on June 2, 2008 due to the beginning of the vacation season. Yekaterinburg-Simferopol-Yekaterinburg flight is available every Monday. The plane leaves Yekaterinburg at 12.45 PM and arrives in Simferopol at 1.20 PM, then takes off in Simferopol at 3 PM and lands in Yekaterinburg at 9.15 PM. The duration of the flight comes to 3 ¼ hours, the airline’s press officer reports. During the summertime, these flights will be offered four times a week. Yekaterinburg-Blagoveshchensk flight is operated every Monday; the

SKB-Bank’s Chairman Mikhail Khodorovskiy was elected Deputy Chairman of the Association of Regional Banks of Russia at the association’s twenty-third general meeting. Alexander Murychev, the association’s Chairman, and Anatoly Aksakov, the association’s President and the State Duma deputy, spoke very highly of this choice. The Association of Regional Banks of Russia is the first all-Russian banking union founded in 1990 and consisting of over four hundred members at the moment, these being some major players of the country’s banking market, western banks’ daughter enterprises, and provincial