March 10,2015. Pilot runs of the new mainline locomotive TG16M No.002, made at Lyudinovsky Locomotive Plant (a member enterprise of Sinara Transport Machines) began in Sakhalin, Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. The pilot run means the loco has to reach 20,000km mileage while actually transporting cargo; its traction figures must meet the declared parameters. The launching ceremony was attended by Russian and foreign media representatives, who came to Sakhalin to cover snow - and avalanche-fighting efforts of Sakhalin Railways. Sinara Transport Machines representative Valeriy Tolstov said at

March 10, 2015. Expert RA, a rating agency, affirmed Uralmash NGO Holding’s credit rating at A+ and changed the rating outlook from Stable to Negative, which means the rating is highly likely to go down in the medium term. The rating sublevel was demoted from the first to the third, the agency reports. The positive factors working toward the rating are the moderately high liquidity figures, independence from large customers and suppliers, low foreign currency risks, and expansive loan security options as well as diversified revenue sources, varying prime cost options offered by contractors,

March 10, 2015. Russian Copper Company is now contributing to Vasenin, a film dedicated to the celebrations of the 70th Victory Day, the company’s press service reports. ‘Vasenin is a documentary about the life and love of a Russian soldier, a Great Patriotic War veteran. The main character is played by the veteran, Nikolai M. Vasenin, himself. He joined the front in 1939, was heavily wounded near Minsk in July 1941 and taken prisoner of war. He survived a chain of POW camps and ended up in France, where he joined the Resistance troops, set up ‘the group of Nicolas’ and fell in love with

March 6, 2015. The number of claims Sverdlovsk Region residents laid against insurance companies rose by 43% last year, Chairman of Sverdlovsk Region Court Alexander Dementiev said at a press conference today. Dementiev explained most of the civil suits involving insurers had to do with third-party liability car insurance payments. In 2014, courts made insurance companies pay their plaintiffs 730m RUR altogether. Besides, the number of civil suits relating to unpaid housing bills went up by 30%in 2014. Sverdlovsk Region residents were obliged to pay a total of 1.3bn RUR worth of debts. In

March 6, 2015. The cost of life-saving medications at Sverdlovsk Region’s pharmacies rose by 4.3% since the start of the year, while other drugs became 7.9% more expensive, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department refers to Health Minister Arkadiy Belyavsky as saying. ‘An analysis of local prices indicates that these grew most for the least expensive medications in the under-fifty-rubles range. For example, the price of the widely popular antibacterial drug ceftriaxone rose from 17.25 RUR to 21.1 RUR per bottle (up 12.3%); the maximum retail price for the medicine was set

March 6, 2015. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) sold 20% more pipes in the last quarter of 2014 compared with Q3’14: the figure was 702,000,000 kg thanks to betters sales of weldless OCTGs and line pipes on the home market occasioned by growing seasonal demand. The company’s weldless OCTG sales rose by 12% compared with the previous quarter, TMK’s press service reports. Welded pipe sales increased by 11% compared with the third quarter of 2015 and reached 534,000,000 kg thanks to better LDP sales on the domestic market and better welded OCTG sales in the United States. Overall pipe sales rose

March 6, 2015. ChTPZ Group’s educational project called the Future of White Metallurgy and its charity theatre festival for children called Snezhnost won awards from the Social Projects Fund and were declared Russia’s best ones. The Fund’s annual Russia’s Best Social Projects Contest was set up to support the Russian Government’s strategy on improving social policy through public, private, and society’s partnerships. The Future of White Metallurgy aims to ensure an inflow of highly skilled young workers onto the country’s metallurgical plants; the project took off in 2011 thanks to the

March 6,2015. Omsktransmash (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) has saved 18m RUR after the lean manufacturing principles were introduced at the plant, the corporation’s press service reports. The company started switching to lean production in January 2014, and positive outcomes could be observed in early 2015. The money thus obtained was directed to meet the plant’s various needs. Lean manufacturing rests on the 5S system that is a basic, implementable way of rationally organizing one’s working space and working process. Out of the five steps of the 5S approach, namely,

March 5, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Executive Director Vladimir Roschupkin and Rector of Ural Federal University Viktor Koksharov signed a cooperation agreement on continuous education at Sverdlovsk Region Union of Industrialists & Employers Vocational Education & Labor Resources Committee meeting. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service says that, according to the paper, the two parties will work together in the fields of education, science, production, successive training programs for tech workers, new educational technologies, and scientific research. Every year, Uralvagonzavod is to

March 5, 2015. Ural Airlines added a new Airbus 319 liner (VP-BJV) to its fleet of aircraft, the airline’s press service reports. ‘This is the sixth plane of the same make that we’ve got. It’s fitted with 134 seats, that is, 126 economy class ones and 8 business class ones. The new plane will be used for operating both international and domestic flights,’ the press service says. As their leasing contract expired in early 2015, Ural Airlines stopped operating one of its A320 aircraft, so the air carrier now has 34 liners altogether. The airline embarked on its fleet renovation program in 2006

March 5, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region’s inflation rate stood at 7% in February 2015 compared with December 2014 and at 16.9% compared with February 2014, Sverdlovskstat reports. Food items grew 9.9% more expensive against last December and 25.1% more expensive against last February, while the price of strong drinks rose by 2.9% and 13.9%, respectively. Non-foot items became, respectively, 5.7% and 11.8% more expensive and services became 6% and 15.7% costlier.

March 5, 2015. Tinkoff (TKS) Bank’s net profit (calculated in accordance with the IAS) plunged by 41% in 2014 and came to 3.4bn RUR against 5.8bn RUR a year earlier. The bank’s pre-tax profit amounted to 4.9bn RUR against 7.5bn RUR in 2013, the bank’s report states. The net interest income, however, rose by 15% and reached 30.8bn RUR, while the net interest margin decreased from 36.4% in 2013 down to 34.8% in 2014. The bank’s share of non-performing loans doubled over last year and amounted to 14.5% against 7% in 2013. In the last quarter of the year, the bank’s profit declined by 65%, down

March 5, 2015. Russian Vice Premier Dmitri Rogozin chaired a meeting of the 10th International Arms, Military Vehicles & Munitions RussiaArmsExpo 2015 Exhibition’s coordination committee at the Government House. According to the press service of Uralvagonzavod Corporation (the event’s general coordinator), Rogozin stressed in his opening address that the exhibition in Nizhniy Tagil was a large-scale and serious event, and every effort should be made to make sure it becomes a success. Deputy Industry & Trade Minister Alexander Potapov, who spoke on behalf of his department, presented a

March 4, 2015. This year’s first cash smuggling attempt was prevented at Koltsovo Airport of Yekaterinburg, Koltsovo Customs’ press service reports. ‘A Russian citizen flying from Yekaterinburg to Bangkok had over $23,000 (1.483m RUR) worth of cash in his carry-on luggage which he tried to take across the Customs Union border. This is classed as a large-scale smuggling attempt, with charges based on Article 200.1 (Part 1) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code,’ the press service says. Last year, Koltsovo Customs prevented three similar attempts, the total amount of cash being over $126,000.

March 4, 2015. Travelers from the Urals are now making trips to Egypt even less often than people from other parts of Russia, the Executive Director of Ural Tourism Association Mikhail Maltsev told UrBC. RBC refers to Egypt’s statistic-gathering agencies as stating that the inflow of Russian tourists into the country dropped by 12%, or down to 199,500 people, in December 2014. ‘The decrease in the number of Ural travelers to Egypt was higher than Russia’s average last December, since Egypt-bound flights disappeared from Chelyabinsk, Perm, and Tyumen airports altogether, so everyone had to fly

March 4, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region’s debt rose by 47% in 2014 and reached 49.6bn RUR on January 1, 2015, RIA Rating refers to the Russian Finance Ministry and the Federal Treasury as saying. The debt/tax and non-tax revenue ratio changed from 9.6% to 34.8% over last year. All in all, the accumulated government debt of all the Russian federal constituencies increased by 20% in 2014 and came to 2.089 trillion RUR on January 1, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region Finance Minister Galina Kulachenko said earlier that the constituency’s debt would triple by January 1, 2018 and thus amount to 126.4bn RUR due to

March 4, 2015. ChTPZ Engineering (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) presented its new pipes for the oil and gas sector at the 10th Annual Russian Shelf 2015 Conference, the Group’s press service reports. The conference, dedicated to the future of liquefied natural gas and shelf oil development in Russia, is held in Moscow on March 3-4. ‘ChTPZ Group currently has at its disposal the entire set of technologies, equipment, and materials necessary to contribute to construction of oil wells at shelf plates; the company also focuses on the development of new pipes as part of its import

March 4, 2015. In 2014, Uralvagonzavod Corporation directed 4m RUR to help repair and remodel the kindergartens located in Dzerzhinsky District of Nizhniy Tagil; this was twice as much as was donated a year earlier. This year, despite the ongoing crisis, the company will allocate the same amount of money to support the daycare centers, the corporation’s press service reports. There are 32 kindergartens in the area, attended by 5,161 children. Each kindergarten is patronized by one of the corporation’s head plant’s departments or other Nizhniy Tagil-based member enterprises, namely,

March 3, 2015. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ Uraltrac, a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) shipped eight B10MB bulldozers for the construction of an airport in Novaya Zemlya, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘The airport is meant to assist in the development of hydrocarbon deposits in the Arctic shelf plates by providing a reliable aviation link with the continent; our vehicles will help put up the air haven,’ the press service explains. The swamp bulldozers are shipped to the Arctic with the help of the plant’s dealer, Tyumenzapchast. The representatives of the

March 3, 2015. 25 industrial enterprises operating in Sverdlovsk Region could get state subsidies within the framework of the Russian Government’s Anti-Recession Plan very soon, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department states. Companies might get a reimbursement on the amount of interest they pay on loans that were taken out to finance their working capital as well as receive funding that will help them create new jobs and thus ease the labor market tension. ‘These support measures are part of the Russian Government’s Anti-Recession plan. 20bn RUR (the money directed to