UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region-based farmers’ overall cattle stock declined by 2.4%, down to 115,900 head of cattle, between November 2014 and November 2015, Sverdlovskstat reports. The number of cows at smaller private farms dropped by 11.7%, down to 26,500 head of cattle, while the entire private cattle count decreased by 8.5%, down to 59,000 head. Also, the number of pigs decreased by 12.7%, down to 6,900, while that of sheep and goats went down by 4.6%, down to 68,900. The number of sheep and goats in the agricultural enterprises dropped from 2,500 down to 1,100

UrBC, Moscow, December 21, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region-based employers owed their workers 7m RUR in unpaid wages and salaries as of December 1, 2015, Rosstat reports. In Russia on the whole, the debt amount came to 3.9bn RUR (up 395m RUR, or 11.3%, on November 2015). 37% are owed by employers in the processing sector, 29% by those in the construction industry, 9% by those in the sector for production and distribution of electric power, water, and natural gas, 7% by those in the transportation industry, 6% by those in the fossil production industry, and 5% by those in the agricultural, hunting,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2015. Five employees of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation were given important government awards for their achievements; the awards were presented to them by Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Igor Kholmanskikh, the company press service reports. Four of the awardees work for the corporation’s head plant, and one more, Vladimir Brusov, is the Director of Volchansky Mechanical Plant (one of the corporation’s member enterprises). Brusov was awarded the Order of Friendship (by President’s Decree 526 dated October

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2015. Omsktransmash (Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Omsk-based member enterprise) met its defense procurement target figures for the year 2015. The last set of upgraded tanks was recently delivered to the Russian Armed Forces, the company press service reports. Under the company’s government contract, Omsktransmash had to give a complete overhaul and an upgrade to the T72 tanks so as to achieve a considerable improvement in their performance characteristics,’ the press service says. The tank upgrades comprised quite a few technological stages which resulted

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2015. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant recently hosted the 3d All-Russian Research to Practice Blue-Collar Job Training Conference dedicated to current problems and developmental prospects of vocational education; the conference participants talked about ways of training efficient blue-collar workers whom the industry needs, the company press service reports. Speakers also talked about the ways in which the academic and the business communities could cooperate, and about the ways to make educational establishments pedagogically, scientifically, and