March 3, 2015. Tour operators report the demand for foreign travel is on the decrease in Russia. Online searches for trips to various countries dropped by 35%, on average, compared with January 2014, Rossiyskaya Gazeta refers to the Association of Russian Tour Operators as saying. In January 2015, Russian citizens made 2.5m online enquires related to trips abroad; this was 35% less than a year earlier and 28% less than in December 2014. The demand sagged the most for destinations in Europe: these failed to compete with the inexpensive mass-market holiday places, of which Egypt remains the

March 3, 2015. Yekaterinburg is going to join the Largest Russian Flag, Constituency Flag, and City Flag Demonstration Project. According to the city council, hearings on the Arctic 2015 Projects (a part of the 70th V-Day celebrations) will take place at Russia’s Public Chamber on March 5, 2015. ‘The idea behind the project is to collect a set of flags of Russian cities and federal constituencies starting from December 2014. In April, shortly before Victory Day, a gigantic flag will be pieced together to head for the North Pole-based Barneo Ice Camp,’ the city council says. Yekaterinburg

March 3, 2015. Russian banks issued 40% fewer cards in January 2015 compared with the start of 2014; this trend is likely to continue in February, Prime refers to the National Credit History Bureau as stating. 400,000 bank card applications were registered with the Bureau in January, compared with 650,000 a year earlier (-40%). This has been brought about by the banks setting up stricter loan-issuing terms: lending through a bank card is one of the least secured and the riskiest type of lending, so banks are trying to decrease their share in their loan book. This is why the amount of newly

March 2, 2015. Yekaterinburg is going to host Russia’s ice skating championship this year, the city council’s press service refers to Head of Yekaterinburg Council Physical Culture, Sports, & Tourism Department Lyudmila Fitina as saying. According to Fitina, the championship will be held at Uralets Club (90 Bolshakov St) on December 23-28. Yekaterinburg was granted the right to host the championship after competing with Sochi for the privilege.

March 2, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration court is going to consider an application by Moscow-based Kronika, which insists that Yekaterinburg-based Elmash (UETM) be declared bankrupt; the claim was placed with the court on February 26, 2015. As can be inferred from the case-related materials, the court made Elmash pay Kronika over 13m RUR in September 2014. The defendant did not agree with the court’s ruling and tried to appeal against it, yet the 17th Court of Arbitration & Appeals supported the earlier ruling. Elmash (UETM) was registered as a business on April 28, 2012 and is now

March 2, 2015. The import of strong drinks to Russia went down considerably in January, Interfax refers to the Center for National Alcohol Policy as stating. For one, beer import dropped by a whopping 78%, down to 3.04m liters, while that of champagne and sparkling wines plunged by 48% (down to 1.18m liters) against January 2014. The import of still wines went down by 48% as well, down to 12.48m liters. Additionally, the imports of vodka, liqueurs, and spirits decreased to 1.15m liters, which was 19.4% less than a year earlier; those of cognac, brandy, and grappa declined by 41.2%, down to

March 2, 2105. A group of Russian and Kazakh delegates, headed by Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Boris Dubrovsky and Governor of Kostanai Region Nuraly Saduakasov visited Vysota 239 Department of Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (ChTPZ). A tour of Chelyabinsk Region’s largest industrial enterprise was part of the Kazakhstan’s representatives’ visit to the Southern Urals in order to reinforce the two parties’ foreign economic connections and to negotiate over some promising cooperation projects, the plant’s press service reports. The department’s production facilities and the company’s corporate

March 2, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation adopted an industrial safety policy for hazardous industrial facilities. This policy is based on the government industrial safety policy and is customized to meet the company’s specific production technicalities, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘The main goal is to ensure secure industrial safety levels at the departments where facilities are run that could do economic, social, and environmental damage to society in case of an accident,’ the press service says. To prevent accidents, the industrial safety must reach a level that brings their

February 27, 2015. A federally owned land allotment near Novo-Sverdlovskaya Power Station that is over 100 hectares big and two pieces of land in Istok that are 33 and 35 hectares big will be allocated to Sverdlovsk Region, the Governor’s press service reports. The first slot is expected to be used to set up an industrial park. According to Sverdlovsk Region Public Property Management Minister Alexei Pyankov, this will create at least 7,000 jobs in the machine-building, food manufacturing, construction, and telecommunications sectors. ‘Besides, the ministry’s proposal that the two land

February 27, 2015. Kamensk Uralsky Foundry Plant (KULZ, a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) started using an industrial-purpose X-Ray device to test its aluminum and magnesium alloy castings for defects. According to the corporation’s press service, the 3m-ruble equipment set was bought by the plant late in 2014. ‘The new 225-kilowatt fault detector came to replace its less powerful and less productive 150-kilowatt predecessor. The radiation-emitting devices were installed in a properly insulated room with a special automatic door. However, the safety of the equipment had to be

February 27, 2015. LEPSE ( a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) is going to coordinate a contest for investors and production improvers this year. ‘The main idea is to enhance the prestige of creative activity among our younger workers, to promote the innovations culture, and, most importantly, to build the company’s scientific research potential,’ the corporation’s press service says. The contest will be held on the Inventor’s Day (the last Saturday in June) on an annual basis. Any employee aged under 35 will be eligible to compete as long as they have submitted an improvement

February 27, 2015. 1,870 people applied to Yekaterinburg Employment Center looking for a job; 95.1% of the applicants are without a position at the moment, Sverdlovsk Region Labor & Employment Department’s press service reports. 930 citizens were officially registered as jobless in January 2015. As of February 1, 2015, 4,204 unemployed Russian citizens were registered with the local employment agencies (compared with 3,524 people a year earlier). Yekaterinburg’s official unemployment rate stood at 0.58%. At the same time, the number of people who don’t have a job at the moment but are on

February 27, 2015. Prices keep going up slightly, albeit slowly, on Yekaterinburg housing market: they only rose by 0.6% compared with the start of the year, with the average asking price coming to 76,685 RUR per m2, Ural Chamber of Real Estate’s press service reports. In February, the supply resumed growing on Yekaterinburg existing homes market: there are currently 8,100 apartments and 1,200 rooms in communal apartments in the Chamber’s database. Unlike now, the number of apartments the Chamber advertised as available for purchase kept going down quickly since November and shrank from

February 27, 2015. A federally owned land allotment near Novo-Sverdlovskaya Power Station that is over 100 hectares big and two pieces of land in Istok that are 33 and 35 hectares big will be allocated to Sverdlovsk Region, the Governor’s press service reports. The first slot is expected to be used to set up an industrial park. According to Sverdlovsk Region Public Property Management Minister Alexei Pyankov, this will create at least 7,000 jobs in the machine-building, food manufacturing, construction, and telecommunications sectors. ‘Besides, the ministry’s proposal that the two land

February 26, 2015. A group of deceived housing construction investors are going to protest in Yekaterinburg once again on February 26. The event will take place at the city’s main square at 4 PM, Power in Movement, the NGO created to protect the rights of deceived participatory share housing construction investors, reports. ‘Sverdlovsk Region’s housing construction sector is on the brink of a deep recession. Up to a half of all the construction sites in the area might be frozen indefinitely very soon. Consequently, a number of deceived housing investors will go up; these people won’t be able

February 26, 2015. 10 Sverdlovsk Region-based towns might be affected by the upcoming springtime floods, the local Cabinet’s website states. This year, the water level is expected to reach its upper limit in the areas around the River Tavda and the River Ufa. As a result, Karpinsk, Krasnoufimsk, Irbit, Baikalovo, Turinskaya Sloboda, Makhnevo, Turinsk, Talitsa, Serov, and Tavda might feel the impact of the floods.

February 26, 2015. Last year, Russian micro-financing organizations’ clients used to borrow money primarily to buy home appliances or gifts for relatives or to fund household repairs; however, in the last quarter of 2014, there was an increase in the number of loans taken out to buy groceries and everyday goods. This trend is expected to continue this year, Bystrodengi reports. This micro-financing business predicts that while the population’s nominal income remains the same and the inflation rate keeps rising, blue-collar workers, public sector employees, and retirees – the micro-lending

February 26, 2015. Moody’s demoted ratings of eleven Russian Federation constituencies, including one located in Ural Federal District, namely, Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region, RBC reports. In fact, Moody’s has already demoted Russia’s overall rating from Baa3 to Ba1, with Negative rating outlook. This, in its turn, affected the rating of eleven constituencies: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region, Samara Region, the Republic of Komi, Krasnodar Territory, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Belgorod Region, Nizhniy Novgorod Region, Vologda Region, and the Republic of Mordovia.

February 26, 2015. Yekaterinburg Kirovsky District Court pronounced a verdict of guilty on Dmitri Luzhnov, who was involved in a criminal lawsuit with charges based on large-scale copyright infringement (Article 146 (Part 2) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code), the press officer of Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution authorities reports. It was determined by the court that Luzhnov advertised his software installation services online in December 2014. He then obtained illegal distribution copies of Microsoft software products on the Internet and kept them in order to sell later. On the

February 26, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant is going to pay the college tuition fees of its future employees that are expected to be hired at the Nizhniy Tagil site as well as at the other member enterprises of the corporation, including Ural Transport Machine-Building Design Office and ChTZ Uraltrac. According to the corporation’s press service, the Russian Federation Education & Science Ministry provided positions for 74 students that will be hired by the corporation, including 10 positions for ChTZ Uraltrac. For the first time, students on the special-purpose program