MegaFon, the major telecommunications provider, announced they have signed the official agreement with Apple Inc. regarding iPhone 3G’s sales in Russia. ‘The fist iPhones will hit the stores as soon as this year,’ the company’s press officer said to an UrBC reporter.

‘EvrazHolding’s personnel policy is based on two principles: offering appealing terms to highly skilled workers and improving on the personnel quality,’ EvrazHolding’s Vice President for Personnel Natalya Ionova said in the course of an online conference. ‘The company keeps cooperating with a number of vocational schools and colleges, so the number of our experts is ever-increasing despite the country’s challenging demographics,’ she added. ‘We are paying a good deal of attention to staff retraining, for instance, through a special program that helps our workers to both improve on their

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel had a meeting with Minister for Employment and Economic Development Mauri Pekkarinen during his visit to Finland. In the course of the meeting, the Governor suggested that FinnAir might be interested in operating a number of transit flights bound for Korea, Japan, and other countries of Asia-Pacific Region through Yekaterinburg

The new German Consul General in Yekaterinburg Renate Schimkoreit came into office in September. Dr. Schimkoreit, the political science and economic expert, got her PhD in 1982 and has been involved in the diplomatic service since 1988. She was employed in diplomatic missions in Jordan, China, Senegal, Luxembourg, and Turkey. During her office in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs HQ in Berlin, Dr. Schimkoreit was primarily dealing with the issues related to the European Union’s economic and political strategies. She speaks English, French, Turkish, and Arabic and is currently learning Russian.

A meeting of VSMPO AVISMA Corporation’s Board of Directors was held in Moscow at the end of August 2008. The Board of Directors appointed Vladislav Tetyukhin (the Corporation’s General Director since 1992) the company’s President. Tetyukhin’s office is expected to last from September 3, 2008 to September 2, 2013. Both the company’s President and General Director are going to report to the Board of Directors. One of Norilsk Nickel’s Zapolyarniy branch’s top executives Evgeniy Romanov is going to succeed Vladislav Tetyukhin in the position of the GD; his office is to last from September 3, 2008

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by VUZ-Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for up to 30 days went down by 64.64% (from 20.15 million RUR to 7.125 million RUR) in January-August 2008.

‘No matter what the market opportunities look like at the moment, an investor must bear four basic principles in mind: firstly, the investments must have a definite purpose; secondly, the investment tools must therefore be chosen accordingly; thirdly, the investment process must have clear-cut terms and stages (each of which presupposes implementation of different tools). Finally, the adequate risk assessment is simply crucial,’ says Accord Invest’s Deputy GD Konstantin Selyanin. ‘I find investing in Russian shares a good idea, despite the fact that they are currently rather underestimated

Sverdlovsk Region Court of Arbitration’s first hearing of the claim laid by Koltsovo Airport of Yekaterinburg against Domodedovo Airlines has been scheduled for October 3, 2008. Koltsovo Airport insists on getting 23.75 million RUR worth of debts the airline owes the airport for ground handing services and operations.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for up to 30 days dropped by 27.81% (from 27.708 million RUR to 20 million RUR) in January-August 2008.

After the capital of Thailand found itself in the state of emergency, Russian Embassy in Bangkok suggested that Russian citizens who are currently in Thailand should be very careful, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports. The Embassy warned the tourists against coming to public places full of protest marchers. The Prime Minister of Thailand Samak Sundaravej declared a state of emergency in Bangkok on September 2, 2008 after the opposition and pro-government picketers clashed violently with each other, leaving one person killed and several scores wounded. The Embassy says that

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel had a meeting with Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland during his visit to Finland. The Governor informed the Finnish official that Sverdlovsk Region hosted fifteen foreign consulates at the moment and suggested that the Finnish authorities should consider introducing a consulate in Yekaterinburg. ‘Our experience has shown that the setting up of a country’s consulate usually boosts the development of the two areas’ trade and economic relations as well as all the other forms of cooperation,’ Eduard Rossel said. The

According to RBC.Rating, SKB-Bank was featured on the list of Russian banks with greatest asset volumes in the first half of 2008. TOP 500 reports SKB-Bank’s assets rose by 51% between July 1, 2007 and July 1, 2008, while its net assets amounted to nearly 36 billion RUR by the end of June 2008, which secured the bank a five-point promotion and the 74th position in the Top 500 rating.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by SberInvestBank to nongovernmental financial organizations for 181 days to 1 year dropped by 82.12% (from 19.635 million RUR to 3.51 million RUR) in January-August 2008.

MegaFon, the major telecommunications provider, announced they have signed the official agreement with Apple Inc. regarding iPhone 3G’s sales in Russia. ‘The fist iPhones will hit the stores as soon as this year,’ the company’s press officer said to an UrBC reporter.

According to the National Managers’ League’s profitability ranking of unit investment trusts as of August 29, 2008, the share price of LUKoil Fund First (Uralsib Management Company) has gone down by 27.63% since January 1, 2008.