July 4, 2013. In January-May 2013, the natural population growth in Yekaterinburg was 1,493 people. 8,179 people were born and 6,686 people passed away. As for Sverdlovsk Region, 20,040 people were born and 20,408 people passed away, so the natural decline in the population was 368 people. As of January 1, 2013, Yekaterinburg’s population stood at 1,429,400 people, which is 46,200 (3.3%) more than this figure was at the end of the All-Russian Census of 2010. According to the data provided by Sverdlovskstat, the natural decline in the population in Sverdlovsk Region was 768 people: 14,677

July 4, 2013. Yekaterinburg Oktyabrsky District court pronounced its sentence upon a 29-year-old Alexei Zagainov, who had tried to avoid paying customs duties when importing 9m RUR worth of jewelry to Russia. The press service of the Ural Investigative Division of Russia’s Investigative Committee reports that the accused bought a number of diamonds (total weight: 195.34 carats), sapphires (total weight: 832.51 carats), over 9,000 cut non-precious stones, and a necklace at Bangkok Gems & Jewelry Fair in Thailand in September 2012. He decided not to declare the import of these purchases

July 4, 2013. 30.2% less housing (-775,000 sq m) was commissioned in Ural Federal District in the first three months of 2013 than in the first quarter of 2012, Rosstat reports. Housing construction process was most dynamic in Tyumen Region (including Khanty-Mansiysky and Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Districts) and in Chelyabinsk Region. 370,300 and 251,200 sq m worth of housing was commissioned there, respectively. The share of Ural Federal District in the total amount of housing commissioned in Russia was 7.7%. Private builders put up a total of 338,100 sq m worth of detached houses. All in

July 4, 2013. Sverdlovsk Region division of the Federal Service of Court Officers declared 21,176 local residents travel-banned, as they owe a total of 11.519bn RUR to private individuals and/or organizations. All in all, the local residents have 39.373bn RUR worth of debts that are now being processed by the Service, its website states. The bans on going abroad made 609 locals pay their debts – these amounted to 178.2m RUR, the Service reports. A lot of these debtors are people who don’t pay their children’s alimony: these come to 7,718 people out of all those debtors who have been

July 4, 2013. As of July 1, 2013, a square meter of real estate on Yekaterinburg’s existing homes market came to 70,467 RUR. Ural Chamber of Real Estate reports that this figure has remained virtually the same for the last four weeks and only fluctuated within a range of 0.1%. In fact, the figure hasn’t changed much since the beginning of the year. The increase was about 0.5%, and most homes were sold within four to four and a half months of being put up to sale. Over the last month, prices have been going both up and down in the different segments of this market. Downtown, the city’s most