July 26, 2013. About 57,000 complaints and claims were placed with Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution authorities in the first six months of 2013, which was 13% more than a year earlier, the spokesperson for the authorities reports. About 30,000 complaints and claims have been dealt with by Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution authorities over the said period. About 60% of those relate to compliance with the law and to legitimacy of normative acts; this includes cases that have to do with the violation of labor law (11% of claims), housing law (16%) and with the investigative and inquiry

July 25, 2013. Ural Airlines announced a sale on the tickets from Saint Petersburg to the south of Russia and the CIS. The air carrier's press officer reports that starting from July 23, 2013, tickets for the Saint Petersburg-Yerevan flight will be available for only ?180. Ural Airlines operate flights from Saint Petersburg to the Armenian capital every Tuesday. Starting from August 16, the residents of Saint Petersburg can also benefit from a discount offered on the flights bound for Anapa and Simferopol. Tickets for the flights to the seaside town in Krasnodar Territory will start from

July 25, 2013. The Director-General of the Mid-Urals Development Corporation (KRSU) Sergey Filippov's term has been extended for one year, Kommersant refers to the company's Corporate Secretary Vadim Khlyzov as saying. The decision to renew the contract was taken by KRSU Board of Directors. The Mid-Urals Development Corporation was set up by Sverdlovsk Region authorities in 2008 in order to work on a number of large-scale investment projects in the area, including the construction of Yekaterinburg EXPO, an exhibition center, and the creation of the Titanium Valley special economic

July 25, 2013. Ural Federal District division of the Internal Affairs Ministry reports on the results of their Operation Illegal Immigrant that was carried out in cooperation with the officers from the local divisions of the Federal Migration Service and the Federal Security Service. The division's press service reports that 19 such operations were performed in Ural Federal District's federal constituencies in the first half of 2013; 207 people were detained and 124 administrative offense reports were written relating to foreign subjects or apatrides. 'The illegal migrants in

July 25, 2013. Ascent Travel stopped paying any compensation to tourists as the company's funds have nearly run out, the representatives of the tour operator's insurers – AlfaStrakhovaniye and Pomoshch – report, the press service of the Association of Russian Tour Operators says. 'They haven't refused to meet their obligations officially, but de facto they stopped paying,' a representative of AlfaStrakhovaniye said. The insurance company's representative also said that Ascent Travel promised to come up with a statement of insolvency. However, the list of tourists

July 25, 2013. Seversky Pipe Plant (a member of Pipe Metallurgical Company) coordinated a number of events dedicated to the employees' professional holiday – Metallurgist's Day. Pipe Metallurgical Company Director-General Alexander Shiryayev, Mayor of Polevskoy Dmitri Filippov, and the plant's Managing Director Mikhail Zuyev gave their congratulatory speeches at the plant's Palace of Culture, the company's press service reports. Over 300 workers received their well-deserved awards. Foreman of Electric Welding Pipe Department 2 Vladimir Savin, mill operator of

July 25, 2013. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) has once again won an industrial contest as a Highly Socially Responsible Enterprise. On the eve of Metallurgist's Day, the Board of the Association of Russia's Mining & Metallurgical Sector Enterprises, the Central Council of Russia's Mining & Metallurgical Trade Union, and Russia's Industry & Energy Ministry's Industry Department declared the results of the 10th industrial contest on the Highly Socially Responsible Enterprise. MMK, which has won the contest a number of times, was declared the

July 25, 2013. Deputy Director-General for Sales of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Nikolai Lyadov and the enterprise's Director for Foreign Economic Activity Alexander Ushakov issued a dealer's certificate to UralMetallinvest (Uralsk, Kazakhstan) A dealership agreement was also signed with the Kazakh firm, MMK Information & PR Department reports. 'This is a first-time experience of this kind for the company. MMK did not use to have any official dealers in the near and far abroad before. So issuing a certificate to UralMetallinvest is all the more important. This

July 24, 2013. Markswebb Rank & Report, an analytics agency, came up with a rating of m-banking applications that features the best apps out of programs offered by Russia's thirty largest retail universal banks – 29 iPhone apps, 28 Android apps, 6 Windows Phone apps, 10 java applications, and 12 mobile versions of websites. The test results were presented in the format of a rating of banks that created the most successful mobile platforms, SKB-Bank reports. The main criteria behind the rating were the functional potential of the m-banking services and their usability. SKB-Bank's

July 24, 2013. Bank NEIVA proved the first bank to develop and introduce the newest hacker protection system for its e-banking programs. The bank created a unique system for the safe storage of data and using an electronic signature: Visa Crypto + SafeTouch. The system is used in the remote finance administration systems, the bank's press service reports. 'It is impossible to imagine today's businesspeople who wouldn't manage their settlements account online. We all use mobile technologies in one way or another. How can one protect one's finances against the very

July 24, 2013. Markswebb Rank & Report, an analytics agency, came up with a rating of m-banking applications that features the best apps out of programs offered by Russia's thirty largest retail universal banks – 29 iPhone apps, 28 Android apps, 6 Windows Phone apps, 10 java applications, and 12 mobile versions of websites. The test results were presented in the format of a rating of banks that created the most successful mobile platforms, SKB-Bank reports. The main criteria behind the rating were the functional potential of the m-banking services and their usability. SKB-Bank's

July 24, 2013. Prague and Barcelona proved the most popular foreign cities with the Yekaterinburg holidaymakers in the summer of 2013. As far as vacations abroad are concerned, the Urals' residents travel to Spain, Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Montenegro most often. On average, Yekaterinburg residents are going abroad for six days this summer, and pay the average of 4,100 RUR per day for their hotel stays, Oktogo.ru's press service reports on the summer 2013 hotel booking statistics. The most favorite holiday destinations for Yekaterinburg tourists this summer are Prague,

July 24, 2013. The price of a square meter of housing on the existing homes market in Yekaterinburg comes to 70,595 RUR on average. According to the findings of a research done by the Ural Chamber of Real Estate's Analytical Department, no visible price dynamics can be traced on the market still. Prices rose by 0.4% over the last four weeks, and by no more than 0.7% since the beginning of the year. At the same time, the current prices are 0.5% lower than the peak price of February 2013 (70,918 RUR per sq m). 'The market supply stopped growing in April and even shrank somewhat during

July 23, 2013. Charges have been pressed against the former director of AMUR Car Factory Pavel Chernavin; this is all related to a criminal investigation of illegal issue of the company’s promissory notes. The head of Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Russia’s Internal Affairs Ministry’s press service Valeriy Gorelykh told UrBC that the charges against the former executive are based on Article 201 (part 1) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code (Abuse of Power). According to the inquiry team, the management of AMUR Car Factory, namely, Pavel Chernavin, coordinated an issue of the company’s

July 23, 2013. Yekaterinburg is now Russia’s third most popular city in terms of summer trips for Saint Petersburg dwellers and the seventh most popular city for Muscovites, a press release by an online booking service Oktogo.ru states. ‘The top ten cities most often visited by Saint Petersburg residents are Moscow, Sochi, Yekaterinburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Pskov, Veliky Novgorod, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Anapa, and Murmansk. The residents of Moscow prefer Saint Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Yaroslavl, Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Pskov, and Kaliningrad,’ the press release says.

July 23, 2013. The natural population increase in Yekaterinburg came to 1,493 people in the five months of 2013. Experts say these data reflect an improvement in the living standards and the local residents’ growing confidence in their future. In January-May 2013, 8,179 babies were born in the Urals’ capital, which was 3% more than a year earlier. The natural population increase reached 1,493 people. In the meantime, Sverdlovsk Region is experiencing a natural population decrease of 368 people. All in all, almost no natural population increase has been recorded in the Russian cities with the

July 23, 2013. About 900 people took part in a protect picket against nickel deposits development in Novokhopersk District, Voronezh Region last Sunday. The deposits are being developed by Ural Mining & Metallurgical Company (UMMC), RIA Novosti refers to the region’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs division’s press service as reporting. According to For the Protection of the Khoper, an environmental group, some 3,000 people joined the protest. In May 2013, Mednogorsky Copper & Sulfur Works (a member enterprise of UMMC) won the tender for the use and development of Yelanskoye and

July 23, 2013. About 900 banks are currently operating in Russia, and most of them offer a range of 5 to 10 deposit products to private individuals. Sberex.ru analysts looked into these deposit offers and selected the seven top offers that can without exaggeration be singled out as unique, SKB-Bank’s press officer reports. This Urals-based bank’s Retirement! Deposit was one of these seven singular offers. The portal analysts point out that this is the most advantageous offer on deposits that are meant for one’s retirement savings, and the monthly capitalization of interest makes it even more

July 22, 2013. Seversky Pipe Plant, a member enterprise of Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK), won in the annual Sverdlovsk Region-based contest Taxpayer of the Year 2012, the company's press service reports. The laureates were determined by a committee comprising the representatives of industrial ministries, Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia's Retirement Fund, the Union of Industrialists and Employers, and Sverdlovsk Region union of SMEs. Under the terms of the contest, the title of the best taxpayer is awarded only to those companies that manage to increase the amount of their

July 22, 2013. The public prosecution authorities representatives and the police officers of Nizhniy Tagil revealed some instances of illegal use of Bonduelle trademark by a number of sole traders operating at Strelets wholesale warehouse. The press service of Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution authorities reports that the traders sold some produce branded as Bonduelle CAC without any permission from the trademark owner. The produce in question appear to be counterfeited, as there are certain discrepancies as to the bar code information and expiry date when compared with the original