Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin was Ural Federal District’s most frequently referred to Governor, as far as the Russian media were concerned, in July 2008: the Governor was alluded to in 476 various printed and electronic resources, Interfax’s complex news analysis system indicates. Governor of Tyumen Region Vladimir Yakushev is the second most popular person, with 381 various articles where his name was mentioned in July 2008, followed by Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel (whose name was mentioned in 350 articles and news), Governor of Khanty-Mansiyskiy Autonomous Region

‘It is the current Ossetian-Georgian conflict that was behind the stock market’s fall last Friday. This was simply bound to happen, since Russia got involved in this war and given the fact that information was very limited for a long period of time, while all the news from the West were positively anti-Russian,’ Eurogreen Investment and Finance Company’s General Director Evgeniy Kostarev said to UrBC. The RTS index dropped by 2.92% on Friday and, as the negative trends continued into the weekend, the index fell by another 4.13% on Monday, August 11, 2008. ‘Things have got more or less back to

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UniCreditBank to nonresident legal entities for 181 days to 1 year went down by 52.66% (from 1,684,827,000 RUR to 797,548,000 RUR) in January-July 2008.

955 workers underwent some training at UC RUSAL’s Bogoslovskiy smelter in the first half of 2008. 158 people were able to upgrade their job evaluation categories, while 348 people attended further education courses. Besides, 104 people won in the local tour of UC RUSAL’s professional contest and 200 production training instructors took part in the professional development seminars, UC RUSAL’s press officer in the Urals Roman Lukichev reports. ‘The enterprise can now boast a highly efficient personnel professional training and development system. Bogoslovskiy smelter actually has a license

‘The cost of vacations and the fuel fees have gone up by 30% on average since the beginning of the season; moreover, trips are going to become even more expensive due to the dollar exchange rate coming up,’ Elita Travel’s manager Oxana Volkova said to UrBC. ‘Turkey is still the most popular destination with Sverdlovsk Region’s dwellers; trips to Croatia and Montenegro enjoy very stable demand as well: the planes bound for these countries are always full,’ Oxana Volkova added.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by TagilBank to private individuals for 181 days to 1 year dropped by 14.18% (from 16.3 million RUR to 13.988 million RUR) in January-July 2008.

‘We first offered the packages to our business customers less than six months ago. Since then, over 70% of legal entities that use our bank have switched to this or that package. The percentage actually looks less impressive in some cities, while in some more economically advanced places like Nizhniy Tagil, Kamensk-Uralskiy, and Pervouralsk the figures are even greater,’ says head of URSA Bank’s Sverdlovsk subsidiary Alexei Surganov. The bank came up with four business packages: Acquaintance, Development, Leader, and Partner. ‘All the packages cover such basic services as the opening and

Ural Treasures Bank reports the company’s new name is Rus-Bank-Ural from now on. The announcement to this extent was made via the Bank of Russia’s official website under the rubric called Information on Crediting Organizations on August 5, 2008. Rus-Bank acquired 98.42% of Ural Treasures Bank’s shares at the end of 2007, thus making the latter a part of a large banking group. On May 19, 2008, Ural Treasures Bank’s EGM resulted in the decision to change the company’s name to Rus-Bank-Ural, whereupon the preparation for a re-branding campaign began. The bank started to gradually introduce

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in SberInvestBank valid for up to 30 days plummeted by 100% (from 200 million RUR to zero) in January-July 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of private individuals’ deposits in Ural Innovational Commercial Bank valid for 91 to 180 days went down by 23.18% (from 112.466 million RUR to 86.396 million RUR) in January-July 2008.

On August 7, 2008, the 9th Court of Appeal supported the decision taken by Moscow Court of Arbitration, thus ruling in favor of the Federal Antimonopoly Service’s claim related to one unsuitable advertisement where Technosila trademark was featured, the spokesperson for the Service reports. The advertisement in question was designed for Spektr and exposed a number of goods offered at certain prices, while the off-screen announcer kept commenting on some ‘fools’ who’d bought the goods at a less advantageous price; the comment was accompanied by a number of men’s names: ‘Alex is a fool! He’s