October 20, 2014. Kaspersky Lab carried a list of the Urals’ most cyber-unsafe cities, the company’s press service says. 38% of Ural Federal District-based Internet users were faced with an Internet security threat at least once in the third quarter of the year; this figure, in fact, is the year’s all-time low. In the previous quarter, the figure actually stood at 41%, while in the Q3’14, the number of malicious objects per user dropped dramatically. In Nizhniy Tagil and Chelyabinsk, for example, the number of such objects was almost halved. At the same time, Nizhniy Tagil still turned out to

October 20, 2014. A new power-generating unit is expected to be put up at Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant in the course of thermal power station reconstruction. The project has been elaborated by Saint Petersburg-based Transmashproyekt, the plant’s reliable partner of many years, the corporation’s press service reports. As soon as the construction permit has been granted, an auction will be held for the contractors. The main criterion is whether the contractor is willing to both put up the unit and remain in charge of its operation and maintenance in the future. The construction is

October 20, 2014. The Urban Planning Council under the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region adopted a new reconstruction concept for Yekaterinburg Central Stadium; this was done in preparation for the World Cup 2018. The FIFA adjusted their site requirements recently: the stadium now must be big enough for 35,000 spectators (rather than the 45,000 required earlier). This is why the Russian Federation Government asked the parties in charge to come up with the new design solutions and make changes to the project design documentation. According to Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policies

October 18, 2014. MMK Group’s consolidated steel output went up by 10.3% in the three quarters of 2014 compared with the nine months of 2013 and amounted to 9,959,000,000 kg, the Group reports. The company shipped 9,277,000,000 kg of ready goods to its customers, which exceeded the figures for a year earlier by 11.4%. The output of high value-added (HVA) produce rose by 2.9% in the nine months of 2014 and came to 4,134,000,000 kg.

October 17, 2014. Omsktransmash (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) employed graduates of the Urals- and Siberia-based colleges, the company’s HR Director Ekaterina Vetchinkina announced in the course of a round table discussion dubbed Hunting for Pros: How Can Education and Business Face the Government’s Key Task? According to Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service, Vetchinkina said in her report that the recently hired young graduates majored in Machine-Building Technology, Electric Engineering & Electric Equipment, Thermal Engineering, Radio Equipment, Production

October 17, 2014. Court officers made the subsidiary of Ural Federal University in Sredneuralsk stop operating for sixty days, says Sverdlovsk Region division of the Federal Service of Court Officers. The decision to impose a temporary operating ban on the subsidiary followed an inspection by Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog). The agency’s inspectors determined that the college building’s material resources and equipment did not meet the federal state educational requirements for vocational secondary education establishments. The UFU subsidiary does not possess an outdoor

October 17, 2014. 1,398,400 sq m worth of new housing got commissioned in Sverdlovsk Region in January-September 2014, which exceeded the figures for January-September 2013 by 1.9 times, Sverdlovskstat reports. 16,023 apartments were built (compared with 8,175 apartments a year earlier); there was an average of 324 sq m worth of new housing per 1,000 residents (compared with 169 sq m in January-September 2013). In the nine months of 2014, the new housing output was higher than a year earlier in 55 cities and towns in Sverdlovsk Region. As for Yekaterinburg, 633,900 sq m of new housing were

October 17, 2014. 1,694 new business owners registered with Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor in the nine months of 2014. 500 applications were turned down, the division’s press service reports. According to Rospotrebnadzor, 948 applications have been submitted for the first time, 248 applicants are registering additional information and changes in the agency’s register of enterprises. Out of the total number of applications submitted, 36 were placed through the United Government Services Portal and 38 were placed through multi-purpose centers. Sverdlovsk Region division of

October 17, 2014. Budget Carrier, a 100% low-cost subsidiary of Aeroflot, is now clear about its destinations network, Interfax refers to sources within Aeroflot as saying. In 2014, the new low-cost airline will operate flights to Surgut, Perm, Yekaterinburg, Ufa, Samara, Kazan, Volgograd, Belgorod, and Tyumen. The new airline applied to Rosaviation for the Air Operator’s Certificate on Tuesday. Aeroflot set up Budget Carrier on September 16 to replace the sanctioned low-cost airline Dobrolyot. Sheremetyevo International Airport provided the company with its facilities to operate flights from

October 16, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation presented the logo for the Russian Classic Supreme Hockey League’s open-air championship match in Nizhniy Tagil. According to the corporation’s press service, the city’s most large-scale event is going to take place at the corporation’s head plant’s stadium during the League’s Season 5. Sputnik, the local team, and Yuzhniy Ural from Orsk are to compete in the game. The event will be aired by the TV channel Russia 2. The first two Russian Classic games were hosted by Krasnoyarsk and Chelyabinsk. Five different cities aspired to host the Russian

October 16, 2014. During Sverdlovsk Region’s delegation’s visit to Minsk, an agreement of intent was signed by Sinara Transport Machines (a member enterprise of Sinara Group) and Byelorussian Car Factory, the managing company of BelAZ Holding; the agreement has to do with the use of DM 185 engines in BelAZ dump trucks, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. The agreement was signed by Director-General of Byelorussian Car Factory/BelAZ Petr Parkhomchik and Director-General of Sinara Transport Machines Evgeniy Gritsenko; Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeniy

October 16, 2014. The new tram R1 (Russia One) designed by Uraltransmash (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) will be displayed at the ExpoCityTrans 2014 Exhibition at MosExpo International Exhibition Center in Moscow on October 29-November 1, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. Now R1 is Russia’s first low-floor tram that is currently unique to this country. The tram can boast a lot of technological novelties and new options, including the wireless Internet access, GPS and GLONASS navigation, seven HD CCTV cameras, air conditioning, and antibacterial

October 16, 2014. Director-General of ChTZ Uraltrac (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) Viktor Voropayev was elected Chairman of Russian Engineering Union’s Chelyabinsk branch. He succeeded the former head of Ural Car Factory Viktor Korman in this position, the corporation’s press service says. Deputy Chairman of the Russian Defense Industry Board Oleg Bochkarev spoke at the branch meeting. He said that the program adopted by the government means 70% of the armament systems used by the Russian Armed Forces must be up-to-date by 2020. 23 trillion RUR will be directed for the

October 16, 2014. The number of apartments available for purchase in Yekaterinburg keeps growing. According to the Ural Chamber of Real Estate’s calculations, the supply has been increasing by 1% a week since early April. The overall increase reached 35% (2,600 more apartments) in April-mid-October. At the moment, there are over 10,000 apartments and 1,770 rooms in communal apartments advertised for sale through estate agents. The number of rooms for sale rose by 28% in five and a half months. Analysts indicate that the existing homes market supply has reached its six-year maximum. In

October 15, 2014. Uraltransmash (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) was visited by Assistant to Governor of Volgograd Region Vasiliy Galushkin and Director-General of Metroelectrotrans Nikolai Zhukov. The visitors had a chance to look at the enterprise’s tram-making facility, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. During their meeting with Uraltransmash DG Alexei Nosov, the officials talked about modernization of urban public transport and inter-industrial cooperation in the field of light-rail vehicle development as well as about preparation for the World Cup

October 15, 2014. ChTPZ Group has mastered the production of new, highly profitable kind of produce: first-generation H2S-proof OCTGs with Premium ChT-Vt threads of the company’s own design. This is actually part of the company’s import replacement program. These OCTGs can be used for development of oil wells within highly corrosive environments, that is, with increased H2S and CO2 content, ChTPZ Group’s press service says. These OCTGs have the diameter of 73mm and wall witdth 5.5mm. Providing these pipes with special ducts with VAGT-ChT-Vt threaded joints for connecting a pipe column to the

October 15, 2014. The foreign trade turnover in Ural Federal District came to $28.8bn in January-August 2014, the press service of Ural Customs Administration reports. 92.8% of all the traded goods were imported to or exported from the countries of the far abroad, while 7.2% were imported to or exported from the CIS member states. Imports came to 16.5% of the total foreign trade turnover, 83.5% of all the goods were exported. At the same time, the district’s trade turnover dropped by 41.8% in the eight months of 2014 compared with a year earlier; the freight turnover decreased by 49.3% and

October 15, 2014. Yekaterinburg’s profits came to 15.069bn RUR in the first half of 2014, which comes to 52.7% of the target figures, Head of Yekaterinburg Council Finance Department Andrei Koryukov said at Yekaterinburg Municipal Duma meeting. According to Koryukov, the city’s fiscal and non-fiscal profits amounted to 8.635bn RUR; 38% of this sum stems from personal income tax. More than 6.5bn RUR were directed to Yekaterinburg Treasury from federal and Sverdlovsk Region budget funds. The city council spent 13.494bn RUR as of July 1, 2014, which came to 44.4% of the target figures. Most of

October 15, 2014. It became known during the 19th scheduled meeting of the heads of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China’s Governments that China was going to act as the official partner of the 6th International Industrial Fair Innoprom 2015 in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s Ministry for Industry & Trade reports. The memorandum of intent was signed by the Russian Minister for Industry & Trade and the Chinese Minister for Commerce in the presence of Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev and Li Keqiang, the Premier of the People's Republic of China and party

October 14, 2014. WorldSkills Hi Tech Russia, the national blue-collar jobs championship, will be held at Yekaterinburg EXPO in Yekaterinburg on October 30-November 4, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. The Department says Yekaterinburg EXPO is one of Ural Federal District’s few sites that are capable of hosting the event thanks to their experience and technical capacities. The exhibition center is already busy preparing for the upcoming championship. The All-Russian blue-collar jobs championship puts forth quite strict requirements that the hosting site