UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2016. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) got its current pumping equipment replaced with the more energy-efficient counterpart, which is expected to reduce energy spending by 6.1m kilowatt-hours a year, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s press office reports. Four new, 45- to 55-kilowatt strong pumps were installed at three pumping stations at the water supply department that is in charge of delivering manufacturing water to all the other departments. A new 500-kilowatt pumping unit is meant to deliver water for gas scrubbing of Blast

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2016. SKB-Bank’s most popular All-Purpose consumer loan option is now available to retirees, the bank’s press service reports. To apply for the loan, the potential borrowers need to provide their passport details and one other ID (either their compulsory pension insurance certificate or a driver’s license; their international travel passport goes as well). A pensioner’s ID that states how much one’s pension is, or an income statement from one’s former employer, or a bank statement of a retirement account opened at SKB-Bank can all serve as proof of solvency.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2016. Senior Engineer from Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant’s design office Konstantin Girfanov was awarded Russia’s Federal Military & Technological Cooperation Service’s honorary certificate as Young Talent; this was part of the annual Golden Idea National Prize ceremony, the company press service reports. The prize committee was quite impressed with the 29-year-old designer’s project on development and production of testing equipment for Armata-based military vehicles. The award was presented by Assistant to the Russian Federation President

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2016. FIFA lawyers operating in Russia asked the police to investigate the sale of pirated World Cup 2018 merchandise in Yekaterinburg. ‘We could buy World Cup 2018 souvenirs at a number of newspaper kiosks. It was determined that the products weren’t trademark-protected authentic items, which is why we are taking the case to the police,’ AIS Agency (FIFA’s representative in Russia) says. It appears local kiosks are selling the World Football Championship 2018 souvenir magnets made in Tomsk; the magnets can be had for 110 RUR apiece. However, no official

UrBC, Moscow, December 21, 2016. The Russian Government is going to allocate 556.778m RUR to help Sverdlovsk Region reach a more balanced budget, the Cabinet’s official website states. ‘A special decree was adopted to distribute 33.56bn RUR worth of federal budget subsidies across eighty-two Russian Federation constituencies to support their respective budgets’ balances,’ the website says. 20bn RUR will be directed to make up for the constituencies’ expenses related to civil service workers’ pay, and 3.72bn RUR will be spent to compensate the constituencies’ budget expenses occasioned by the