December 4, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation won the Russian Government’s National Quality Prize among enterprises employing over 1,000 people. The prestigious prize was awarded by Decree 1253 dated November 27, 2014 ‘for outstanding achievements in product and service quality and for highly efficient quality management methods,’ the corporation’s press service reports. Uralvagonzavod Corporation has applied for the prize for the first time this year; the award is considered to be the government’s highest assessment of how good a company’s quality management is and

December 4, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region court officers acted to collect over 5bn RUR worth of debts from legal entities in the first ten months of 2014, Deputy Head of the Federal Service of Court Officers’ Sverdlovsk Region division Elena Sidorova said in her interview to UrBC. All in all, 53,000 enforcement proceedings involving legal entities were completed, with the financial outcome at 200m RUR higher than a year earlier. At the same time, the number of debtor businesses went up as well: the number of enforcement proceedings under way rose by 11,500 and came to 179,194 altogether, whereas

December 4, 2014. SME Investment Fund (aka Sverdlovsk Investment Fund) now operates in Sverdlovsk Region. An applying company can receive between 11.5m RUR and 34.5m RUR worth of investments, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. The Fund is expected to invest in existing small and medium enterprises trying to expand their production. Machine-building, the metallurgical sector, new materials, chemical technologies, medicine and pharmaceuticals, electronics and tool-making, IT, the timber industry, and the environment will be considered priority investment

December 4, 2014. The sentence pronounced on two of Uralkhimplast’s former employees Irina Rusakova and Maria Usoltseva has taken effect: the two women were found guilty of a breach of commercial confidentiality (Article 183 (part 1) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code). The spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region’s prosecution authorities reports that these women started collecting data on their former employer’s activity after they had left the company. In July-December 2012, Maria Usoltseva received multimedia messages on the company’s range of products, prices, amount of deliveries, and

December 4, 2014. Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeniy Kuivashev signed a bill relating to Sverdlovsk Region’s budget in 2016 and 2017, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. According to the Governor, improving people’s living standards throughout the entire constituency remains the Mid-Urals’ authorities’ priority. ‘This budget was adopted in strict compliance with all the existing demands: we remain in charge of all of our social responsibilities, and there is a certain sum allocated for development. Working towards the President’s ‘May Decrees’ as well as