December 5, 2014. Vitaly Galkin, the former Director-General of MMK Metalurji (MMK’s Turkey-based asset), was appointed Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Key Customer Sales Director. Yuri Chaikovsky is now MMK Metalurji’s new DG, the company’s press service reports. MMK Director-General Pavel Shilyaev says the company is extremely interested in making its cooperation with the key customers even more efficient and points out that ‘Vitaly Galkin’s professionalism and many years’ experience in the international business environment on the Eurasian border are the formula for success’.

December 4, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation won the Russian Government’s National Quality Prize among enterprises employing over 1,000 people. The prestigious prize was awarded by Decree 1253 dated November 27, 2014 ‘for outstanding achievements in product and service quality and for highly efficient quality management methods,’ the corporation’s press service reports. Uralvagonzavod Corporation has applied for the prize for the first time this year; the award is considered to be the government’s highest assessment of how good a company’s quality management is and

December 4, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region court officers acted to collect over 5bn RUR worth of debts from legal entities in the first ten months of 2014, Deputy Head of the Federal Service of Court Officers’ Sverdlovsk Region division Elena Sidorova said in her interview to UrBC. All in all, 53,000 enforcement proceedings involving legal entities were completed, with the financial outcome at 200m RUR higher than a year earlier. At the same time, the number of debtor businesses went up as well: the number of enforcement proceedings under way rose by 11,500 and came to 179,194 altogether, whereas

December 4, 2014. SME Investment Fund (aka Sverdlovsk Investment Fund) now operates in Sverdlovsk Region. An applying company can receive between 11.5m RUR and 34.5m RUR worth of investments, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. The Fund is expected to invest in existing small and medium enterprises trying to expand their production. Machine-building, the metallurgical sector, new materials, chemical technologies, medicine and pharmaceuticals, electronics and tool-making, IT, the timber industry, and the environment will be considered priority investment

December 4, 2014. The sentence pronounced on two of Uralkhimplast’s former employees Irina Rusakova and Maria Usoltseva has taken effect: the two women were found guilty of a breach of commercial confidentiality (Article 183 (part 1) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code). The spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region’s prosecution authorities reports that these women started collecting data on their former employer’s activity after they had left the company. In July-December 2012, Maria Usoltseva received multimedia messages on the company’s range of products, prices, amount of deliveries, and

December 4, 2014. Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeniy Kuivashev signed a bill relating to Sverdlovsk Region’s budget in 2016 and 2017, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. According to the Governor, improving people’s living standards throughout the entire constituency remains the Mid-Urals’ authorities’ priority. ‘This budget was adopted in strict compliance with all the existing demands: we remain in charge of all of our social responsibilities, and there is a certain sum allocated for development. Working towards the President’s ‘May Decrees’ as well as

December 3, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation decided to set up a youth organization that will unite young workers from all of the corporation’s member enterprises and will help deal with the most important issues in youth policy. According to the corporation’s press service, the creation of a youth organization will become the next important step in the holding’s integration process. ‘Nearly all of our plant, design offices, and scientific research institutes have youth organizations of this or that kind, the most efficient ones being the organizations at Yekaterinburg-based Plant 9 and

December 3, 2014. Yekaterinburg proved to be one of Russia’s top five cities to visit in 2014, Travel.ru claims. The website’s rating was based on the data available on this year’s tourist bookings. The top ten best places to visit in Russia are Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Sochi, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, Nizhniiy Novgorod, Perm, Novosibirsk, and Samara. According to Travel.ru, this year travelers make 3.5-day trips around Russia on average and spend an average of 3,900 RUR per night in a hotel (which is 15% less than abroad). As for Yekaterinburg, tourists arrive for three days and

December 3, 2014. Yekaterinburg was given the third position in the rating of international brands as they are represented in Russian cities this year; this rating was drawn up by Magazin Magazinov and featured the country’s thirty-six largest cities. ‘The first five positions have been given to the same cities over the last few years (2011-2014): Moscow is on top of the list, with 90% of all the international brands operating in Russia running their outlets in the capital; Saint Petersburg is in the second place (50%) and Yekaterinburg is in the third place (37%). Krasnodar (32%) and

December 3, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region came third in Generalny Director magazine’s rating of Russian constituencies with the best investment climate. The constituency is Russia’s fifth best place in terms of labor force available, third best place in terms of demand for everyday commodities, fifth best place in terms of demand for long-term use goods, sixty-first best place in terms of economic growth rate, fifty-eighth best place in terms of infrastructure development, and second best in terms of fiscal system development. Now Moscow was on top of this rating, and Kaliningrad Region was given

December 3, 2014. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development landed a contract with MOTIV Group: the telecommunications provider will now use the bank’s acquiring services, so all of its subscribers can put money into their mobile phone account online at motivtelecom.ru using their Visa card (issued by any bank). All you need to do is fill in a special form on the company website, providing your phone number, the amount of money you’d like to put into your account, and your bank card details. The UBRD, the acquiring bank, does not charge any commission for the service, the bank’s

December 2, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s member enterprises organized a number of festive events to celebrate Mother’s Day, the corporation’s press service says. For one, Kirov-based LEPSE paid money bonuses to women with many children: there are currently seventy-four such female workers at the plant. Kamensk Uralsky Foundry Plant congratulated the members of the fair sex working for the company as well. Around 50% of the plant’s workers are female, and all of them are actually mothers. Mothers employed at Yurga Machine-Building Plant were congratulated, too: the plant currently

December 2, 2014. ChTPZ Group took part in the 6th International Vocational Education & Business Forum: Partners’ Dialogue in Astana. The forum was chaired by Kazakhstan’s Vice Premier Berdibek Saparbayev According to the Group’s press service, the forum was attended by deputies of Kazakh Parliament, heads of respective ministries and departments and councils, and representatives of national and international companies, professional associations, and educational establishments. Russia was represented by Chelyabinsk Region Education & Science Minister Alexander Kuznetsov, head of

December 2, 2014. Ural Airlines offered its Wings Club members new quests to go through, the airline’s press service reports. ‘‘Family in the Sky’ is one good reason to take your entire family on a trip. ‘Invite a Friend’ means you can invite your friends to join Wings Club and get 200 bonuses for each of your friends’ registration as well as 2,000 bonus rubles for every trip a friend makes. Frequent fliers will enjoy ‘1,000 Li’ – 1,000 bonuses for every 5,000 km you fly with the airline. Finally, there is ‘The Equator’ – 10,000 bonus rubles for 40,000 km you fly with Ural Airlines. You can

December 2, 2014. Yekaterinburg housing market output rose by 11% in the nine months of 2014 compared with January-September 2013 as well as increased by 6% in comparison with the previous all-time high reached last December. 2.8m sq m worth of housing was put in Yekaterinburg by September 2014, Ural Chamber of Real Estate’s Analytical Department reports. The construction tempo was also on the rise, so around 1m sq m worth of new housing might be commissioned by developers by the end of the year. As for Yekaterinburg’s satellites, 308,000 sq m worth of housing (mostly apartments in

December 2, 2014. An electrician from Neiva, a gold-mining cooperative, has recently been charged with violation of safety rules at work, which resulted in serious damage to human health. The spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Investigative Committee’s Investigative Department, the accused violated safety rules when working as a steeplejack, when maintaining electric units, and when dismantling electric mains in May-August 2014. ‘The said safety rules violations resulted in an accident involving a 47-year-old team member on August 16, 2014. The man was standing on

December 1, 2014. Second-year students of a local technical school were given a guided tour of Kamensk Uralsky Foundry Plant (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation). According to the corporation’s press service, the students, whose current educational bent is in technical regulation and quality management, were shown the day-to-day performance of quality engineers and the core production departments. ‘The tour of the plant’s premises was designed in such a way as to let the young students see the making of a product first: they could see how a spare part is made with the help of a

December 1, 2014. A cooperation agreement was signed by ChTPZ Group and WorldSkills Russia during the WSR General Assembly, coordinated with the support of the Russian Federation Education & Science Ministry and the Agency for Strategic Initiatives. ‘The paper was signed by ChTPZ Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant’s HR Director Alexander Luzhbin and WSR Director Pavel Chernykh,’ ChTPZ Group’s press service says. During the ceremony, the two parties said they were both eager to unite their efforts to enhance the prestige of blue-collar jobs, to popularize and develop vocational education

December 1, 2014. The Board of Directors of Yekaterinburg-based Koltsovo Airport (a member enterprise of Regional Airports Holding) adopted a long-term investment program for the company. According to the airport’s press service, the program will run through 2020 and covers directing money to fixed assets construction, technical upgrades of existing facilities, and IT infrastructure development. The investments are expected to amount to more than 6bn RUR. The better part of the money will go to fixed asset construction over the next six years. For one, the airport’s international arrivals and

December 1, 2014. Starting on December 1, new parking meters will be installed in Khokhryakov St, Sacco & Vanzetti St, Radishchev St, Rosa Luxembourg St, Pushkin St, and Belinsky St in Yekaterinburg, the city council’s press service reports. This means that the fee-charging parking space downtown will expand from 450 to 1,050 slots. ‘We selected the busiest streets where cars get parked in several rows. The idea is to increase the road network traffic capacity, to promote parking culture, and to offer pedestrians more comfort. The pilot parking area has proved very efficient so far. We