METCOMBANK’s latest EGM resulted in the decision to go through with an additional share issue in 2009. This is expected to raise the bank’s authorized capital by 2 billion RUR; with the issue’s total volume coming to 4 billion RUR. The spokesperson for the bank reports METCOMBANK will thus be able to reach the scale of Russia’s Top 50 banks in terms of capital volume (and in terms of asset volume, potentially). The increase in capital will also widen the bank’s business development and lending opportunities.

It was detected in the course of an inspection carried out by Nizhniy Tagil environmental prosecution authorities that two local enterprises kept polluting the environment and had no discharge permits at that. Ruslich, an iron foundry based in Verkhnyaya Salda has got over ninety harmful emission points, while Uralskoye (dealing in building stone production) has got thirty-three such emission points and discharged over 40 tons of air pollutants in 2008. The General Prosecutor’s Office reports Ruslich’s chief engineer and Uralskoye’s environmental expert will have to face lawsuits, with

VUZ-Bank’s BOD meeting on May 4, 2009 resulted in the decision to suggest that the stockholders pass the dividend for 2008 at the upcoming AGM. The acquired revenues are expected to be directed to the capital investment and reserve funds.

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin chaired the regional anti-drug committee meeting. This was attended by the members of the State Boundary Commission (headed by the head of the Federal Drug Control Service Vladimir Kalanda). Kalanda said the main aim of their coming to the region was to look into the regional anti-drug committees’ performance as well as to propose a set of specific measures to make their job more efficient. The spokesperson for the Governor reports the region is home to a major drug trafficking artery starting in Afghanistan and gets some inflow of drugs from Troitsk,