UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 31, 2020. Mayor of Yekaterinburg Alexander Vysokinsky held a meeting with heads of departments in charge of preventing the spread of COVID-19 in town, the town council’s press service reports. Mayor Vysokinsky asked for a number of preventive steps to be taken. For one, Vysokinsky stressed the importance of keeping on sanitizing apartment buildings, means of urban transit, and Yekaterinburg Underground and pointed out the need to clean the roads and pavements with vacuums and special-purpose vehicles. Vysokinsky warned that, should the building residents complain of

UrBC, Moscow, March 31, 2020. Everyone living in Moscow and Moscow Region must go into self-isolation in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19; the executive decrees to this effect were issued by Mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin and Governor of Moscow Region Andrei Vorobyev, TASS reports. This means, among other things, that people may only leave their home in order to seek medical assistance or in case of a life/health emergency. They can also go to work if their work is declared essential, go out to get groceries in the nearest supermarket/store, go to a drugstore, or walk their dogs. The

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 31, 2020. RosSet’s Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems renovated all of the commutation appliances at its 220-kV Orbita Substation in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District – Yugra. The substation now has a totally new set of 110-kV switches, which ensures a more reliable power supply to end users in Nizhnevartovsk and nearby areas, including Rosneft’s member enterprises. The replacements cost RUB 235 million to complete, FGC UES’s PR & GR Department reports. ‘The high-voltage switches are the key commutation appliances the substation runs on. They block the

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, March 31, 2020. The management of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) suggested setting up a special-purpose donations account to support seniors in the COVID-19 pandemic, MMK’s Information & PR Department reports. ‘Older people are known to be a higher risk group as far as the novel type of coronavirus is concerned. Donations accumulated in the account will be directed to supporting the elderly and to preventing the spread of COVID-19 among the seniors of Magnitogorsk. First and foremost, aid will be provided to the residents of Magnitogorsk who are now in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 31, 2020. The telecom company MegaFon now allows customers over 65 to make calls/send text messages even if they have no money in their account or have a negative account balance, MegaFon Ural’s press service reports. ‘This should prove particularly handy for those who have to self-isolate at the moment. All you have to do is contact MegaFon’s call center and we’ll help you select one of the options that will let you stay connected. For one, we can advance you anything up to RUB 3,000 in your phone account (you can pay later, commission-free). The offer applies to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 30, 2020. ChelPipe Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) and Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant (ChelPipe) now use a mobile app to keep track of the number of manufactured pipes automatically; the solution relies on an object recognition tool, the Group’s press service reports. The new IT solution boosts productivity by making the inspection engineers’ work more efficient and by eliminating miscounting issues with piles and packs of pipes. The pipe-recognition algorithm that meets all the necessary tech requirements was designed through lengthy, detailed analysis of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 30, 2020. EVRAZ Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ NTMK) produced its first 400,000 kg of the unique 20P channel bars with exceptional impact strength even in extremely low temperatures (-60°С), EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Communications Center reports. ‘These 20P channel bars have been made at the plant’s Heavy Mill Department and will be used for a winter-time living facility in Russia’s Vostok Station in the Antarctic, that is, in an extreme climatic environment. The bars have been delivered by EVRAZ Metal Inprom’s Moscow branch,’ the company

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 30, 2020. NEYVA Bank will operate as usual on March 30-April 5; the bank’s offline branches will be open during the usual working hours, the bank’s press service reports. ‘Dear customers, Under the Russian Federation President V.V. Putin’s decree, organizations in the banking and finance sector are classified as essential businesses, which means NEYVA Bank will keep working as usual; our offline branches will be open during the usual working hours, and all payments will get processed as usual. For more information on our working hours, please visit the bank’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 30, 2020. DeloBank will be charging its customers no fees or commissions for making payments to contractors banking with other banks effective March 27. According to the bank’s press service, all payments will remain commission-free throughout April. DeloBank’s customers with the Major League Package also get their settlement account administered free of charge in April. ‘No matter what, DeloBank keeps operating as usual. As always, all of the bank’s services are available online. Our business customers can make any payments, sign up for services, submit reports,

UrBC, Moscow, March 30, 2020. Ural Airlines evacuated 133 Russian nationals from Thailand on March 27, 2020, the air carrier’s press service reports. Special-purpose Flight U6 856 arrived in Irkutsk on Friday. The airline keeps on operating special-purpose flights in the meantime. Moscow-Yerevan-Moscow flight will get operated on April 1.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 27, 2020. Ural Airlines will be operating more Yekaterinburg-Kaliningrad flights in April. Starting April 19, direct flights to Kaliningrad will be available on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. All flights will be operated on Airbus liners. The departure time for the flights leaving Yekaterinburg on Mondays and Fridays is 11:00 AM; the departure time for Wednesday and Sunday flights is 9:00 AM. The departure time for the flights going from Kaliningrad back to Yekaterinburg is 12:25 PM and 10:30 AM, respectively, the airline’s press service informs UrBC.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 27, 2020. ChelPipe Group’s member enterprises are currently coordinating training courses on their in-company Power of White-Coated Metallurgy Talent Development Program. 46 employees of the Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant and Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant are now on the program. The program covers four primary fields: managerial skills workshops, production system tools, business specifics, and production technology/quality management. The focus is on practice: some 70% of the learning time is spent practicing on the job. As for the lectures, these get

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 27, 2020. RosSet’s Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems (FGC UES) installed overhead ground-wire cable at its 220-kV Urengoyskaya Power Station-Tarko-Sale Main, FGC UES’s Ural division’s PR and media group reports. The new cable ensured a more reliable power supply to end users in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, including the pumping stations at Transneft’s Purpe-Samotlor Pipeline. An overhead ground-wire cable is an important component of electric mains that is meant to provide lighting protection and thus help avoid risks of power outages. In the course

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 27, 2020. Ural Airlines took more than 10,000 Russian nationals home from abroad on its custom flights, the air carrier’s press service reports. 60 evacuation flights were operated between March 16 and March 25, 2020. Most of the passengers arrived from Prague, Antalya, Dubai, and Larnaca; a certain number of people also returned from Budapest, London, and Tel Aviv. The airline’s evacuation flights are still in progress: Moscow-Tel Aviv Moscow flight will get operated on March 26; Irkutsk-Bangkok-Irkutsk one will get operated on March 27; and Moscow-Yerevan-Moscow

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 27, 2020. The number of the telecom company MegaFon’s mobile Internet connection users in Russia rose by 6.7% in the last quarter of 2019 and reached nearly 35 million, the company’s press service refers to MegaFon’s financial report as indicating. Experts believe the increase has to do with updated payment plans that now include a range of cross discounts and cashback options and with the network connection growing more stable. 2,470 4G stations got launched in the fourth quarter of 2019, many of which are now operating in Sverdlovsk Region. The stations got

UrBC, Moscow, March 26, 2020. The Russian tourism industry might lose RUB 37 billion this year because of all the travel bans, Executive Director at the Association of Tour Operators of Russia Maya Lomidze said at a press conference in Moscow. According to Lomidze, this could be the case if the travel ban stays in place through September 2020. This would mean, according to Lomidze’s estimates, that outbound travel segment would lost RUB 25 billion and the inbound one RUB 12 billion. Now at the end of February 2020, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia asked Russian Prime Minister

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 26, 2020. RosSet’s Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems is going to improve lightning protection of mains connected to Troitskaya Power Station, FGC UES’s Ural division’s PR and media group reports. ‘The company started mounting a new overhead ground-wire cable at the 220-kV Troitskaya Power Station-PS90-2 Main. Over 40 km of the cable will have to get replaced all in all, which will protect the main against lightning-caused electrical overstress and will thus ensure reliable power supply from Troitskaya Power Station to Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 26, 2020. NEYVA Bank and Renaissance Insurance Group launched their new car repair insurance plan on March 24, 2020. According to the bank’s press service, NEYVA Bank’s customers can now avoid unnecessary risks and not worry about car accidents so much with a bumper to bumper coverage policy that is now available on very appealing terms. ‘Every proactive driver knows what a car accident entails; this is a very worrisome, unpleasant situation that usually involves having to spend a lot of money on car repairs. The whole thing is even more unpleasant for the injured

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 26, 2020. Director-General at Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Pavel Shilyayev signed an executive order to adopt a new energy policy for the company; the goal is to cut down on the energy component in products’ prime cost, MMK’s Information & PR Department reports. The company representatives say the new energy policy will enhance the efficiency of energy spending at every single workplace; will help use secondary energy resources to the fullest; and will help improve the current energy spending control system. MMK saved some RUB 500 million thanks to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 26, 2020. Mayor of Yekaterinburg Alexander Vysokinsky signed an executive order to give Timofeyev-Resovsky St a new name; the decree is now available on the town council’s website. Now the proposal to rename an existing street in honor of Vassily Parin MD came from Yekaterinburg residents and members of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Ural branch last year. Akademik Parin St now runs between Blizky Quarter and Quarter Eleven (currently under construction). In the future, as per the area’s urban transit network plan, the street will serve as a link between these two