Ural Airlines is going to switch to its summer timetable early on March 29, 2009. This season, there will be more domestic flights and some new flights bound for the CIS will be launched into the bargain. For one, a Saint Petersburg-Gyandzha (Azerbaijan), a Perm-Dushanbe (Tajikistan) and an Irkutsk-Dushanbe flight will be introduced this summer. In addition, the carrier will be operating additional Yekaterinburg-Krasnoyarsk, Krasnoyarsk-Novosibirsk, and Norilsk-Sochi flights as well as the Novosibirsk-Moscow one. During the summer period, the company will offer its Yekaterinburg-based

UniCreditBank’s only shareholder made the decision not to pay the dividends on common and preferred stock this year. The decision was taken in Vienna, Austria, on March 16, 2009.

The net profit of Petrokommerz Commercial Bank reached 1,103,016,000 in 2008 against 1,524,545,000 RUR a year earlier. The decrease in the net profit has to do with the build-up on the net accrued interest and the foreign currency transactions income, the drop in the net profits coming from securities transactions, and having to invest more in the possible loss reserves, the bank reports.

Sverdlovsk Region Minister for Natural Resources Konstantin Kryuchkov chaired a meeting of the regional Environment and Nature Management Committee on March 12, 2009. The primary topic on the meeting’s agenda had to do with the local enterprises having to drop their emission rates down to the maximum permissible discharge limits this year. The regional government declared on March 18, 2005 that sixteen local companies based in environmentally challenged areas had to fit themselves into the limits by 2015. So far, several enterprises have actually managed to reach these limits by January 1,

FINAM Investment Company lowered its estimates of Uralkaliy common stock’s target price from $5.4 to $5.02 by the end of 2009. The company still suggests that it will be a good idea to keep buying these shares, the spokesperson for the investment company says. FINAM’s analysts believe that Uralkaliy’s production and financial development indicators will be going down this year, partially due to the re-investigation of the causes of the accident in Berezniki in 2006. This re-investigation could actually do a lot of financial damage to the fertilizers manufacturer. ‘The global financial crisis

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin allocated 30 million RUR to set up a small business lending support fund. Another 80 million RUR have been provided by the federal budget, so the fund’s resources total to 110 million RUR altogether. According to the spokesperson for the Governor, the fund’s primary function is to act as a guarantor for small businesses borrowing money from a bank. In addition, preferential lending terms are offered to entrepreneurs by the fund itself. What is more, the fund is trying to negotiate for lower interest rates on bank loans provided the fund acts as a

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin signed a decree providing administrative support to the local investment projects. The document is aimed at creating an investment-conducive environment in the region and making it easier for businesses to operate. Under the new decree, the potential investors will be able to have the whole issue settled at just one place, while applications for setting up a business are to be considered by the Ministry for Economic Development. The only papers an investor has to submit are a feasibility study, some financial reports, and evidence of paid taxes. The