UrBC, Moscow, February 17, 2020. 29.5m foreign nationals entered Russia last year, which was nearly 10% less than one year previously, Russia’s Federal Security Service’s Border Service’s data indicate. The foreigners visiting Russia most frequently last year came from Ukraine (8.6m people), Kazakhstan (4.3m people), and Uzbekistan (2.58m people), followed by China (2.3m people), Tajikistan (1.57m people), and Azerbaijan (1.18m people). Kyrgyzstan (959,000 people), Finland (938,700 people), Armenia (816,500 people), and Germany (744,500 people) were also among the top ten sources of foreign

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 17, 2020. The telecom company MegaFon landed a partnership with the gaming service Loudplay, which means MegaFon’s customers can now pay for access to Loudplay games using the money in their mobile phone account and play games remotely from a cloud on any kind of device, regardless of capacity. According to MegaFon Ural’s press service, the cloud lets you run games on remote servers directly from a user’s computer; the video gets streamed onto the computer screen online. MegaFon/Loudplay now offer you packages with a minimum guaranteed access of three hours a

UrBC, Kogalym, February 17, 2020. ChelPipe Group will be holding Snezhnost Charity Festival in Kogalym, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region, on February 14-16. The theater marathon took off in the Urals and Tatarstan last December, with support from Russia’s Culture Ministry, Kogalym Council, and LUKOIL. The festival plays will be hosted by Siberia Culture Palace and Metro Youth Center. According to the Group’s press service, Snezhnost will open with The Cat’s House, a family opera performed by young singers from Chelyabinsk Children’s Singing School (created at the initiative of and supported by

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 17, 2020. Sverdlovsk Region transferred RUB 381bn worth of tax payments and revenues to the Russian Federation budget last year, which exceeded the figures for one year previously by 6%, Head of Russia’s Federal Tax Service’s Sverdlovsk Region division Sergey Loginov said at a meeting. ‘RUB 130bn got directed to the federal budget (up 19% on a year earlier) and RUB 251bn got directed to Sverdlovsk Region’s consolidated budget (+0.5%). RUB 206bn went to non-budget funds. Insurance fee payments went up by 8.9%, VAT payments rose by 17% and amounted to RUB 95bn,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 17, 2020. A young athlete from a Greco-Roman wrestling school in Kamensk-Uralsky supported by OOO FORES’s local branch won gold in Sverdlovsk Region Championship. Dmitri Kolokolnikov beat all the other contestants in the under-41 kg category, FORES’s press service reports. ‘More than 120 sportsmen in the 13-15 age group from Yekaterinburg and other towns in Sverdlovsk Region competed in the championship. The first prize in this competition means the winner can represent Sverdlovsk Region in Ural Federal District Championship,’ the press service says, Dmitri