UrBC, Moscow, October 30, 2015. The prices mobile breakdown services charge drivers have gone up by 10% to 20% in the last year, Avtostat refers to Russian Auto Moto Club as saying. The said mobile breakdown services include vehicle recovery and basic ‘first-aid’ options such as a jump start, some gasoline, and wheel changing. In Russia on the whole, Moscow drivers get charged the most; breakdown vans in Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk have the second highest prices, those operating in Saint Petersburg and Yekaterinburg are in the third place, and those operating in Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Ufa,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 30, 2015. Sales of new cars on Yekaterinburg market declined by 43% in the nine months of 2015, Auto-Dealer-Yekaterinburg reports. 32,268 new automobiles have been sold since the start of the year, including 3,712 cars sold in September (down 41% on a year earlier). KIA and UAZ/Lada (both currently among the ten best-selling brands) improved their sales in September, with the Korean brand even becoming last month’s No.1. Still, Lada remains the market leader throughout January to September overall. ‘Despite a dramatic drop in sales, Lada is highly likely to remain

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 30, 2015. Prices went down by an average of 5.8% on Yekaterinburg existing homes market in the ten months of 2015, Ural Real Estate Chamber reports. The average asking price of a square meter of housing came to 71,828 RUR on October 28, 2015. The demand went up a little following the summertime seasonal decline, but it still remains low. However, sellers are still actively putting new offers on the market, so the overall existing homes market supply has gone up by nearly 48% since February. There are currently 11,550 apartments and over 1,900 rooms in communal

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 30, 2015. ChTPZ Group’s employees and alumni of the Future of White Metallurgy, the company’s corporate training program, are going to take part in the 2nd WorldSkills Russia Championship, a blue-collar jobs competition, the company press service reports. The Group’s contestants have won various rounds of WorldSkills Russia before. For one, Alexander Ilyinykh and Roman Barkhatov won silver medals in WorldSkills Russia and the 1st WorldSkills Hi Tech Russia in Mobile Robotics, while Anton Shalakhov, who got the bronze in WorldSkills Russia in Kazan last year, will

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 30, 2015. The Russian Federation Government and Sverdlovsk Region Government adopted an action plan for easing the tension on the area’s labor market; one of the steps is introducing a blue-collar training program at Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant. Around six hundred workers are expected to undergo the training. According to the corporation’s press service, the program will be multi-fold. ‘Firstly, the idea is to train new blue-collar cadre, namely, sling operators and digital data processors. Secondly, we plan to offer professional development training