Following the request of Rostourism, Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has recently informed the other countries’ diplomatic representations (both those based in Moscow and the federal subjects) that a new federal law on changes made in the rules for Russian travel agents (originally adopted on February 5, 2007) should come into force on June 1, 2007. The Ministry announced that travel agents should now be held financially accountable for certain problems they might cause to their customers; they should also ensure greater consumer rights protection and enhance the quality and safety of

Rostechnadzor (the state environmental and technologic safety watchdog) provided Sverdlovsk EnergoGas Company with a license entitling the latter to selling electricity to end users through order 248 signed by head of Rostechnadzor Konstantin Pulikovskiy on April 12, 2007. The licensing procedure was made obligatory after the corresponding provision 291 was issued by the Russian Federation Government on May 6, 2005. Sverdlovsk EnergoGas Company, the guaranteeing supplier of 20 municipalities in the region, is operating at the retail market, selling electricity at fares determined by the

‘Some of our customers (the housing maintenance and utilities services) haven’t paid their bills since 2003,’ the spokesperson for Uralsevergas Oleg Vlasov said to UrBC. Among these debtors are Krasnouralsk Chemical Plant (its debt comes to 139,377,700,000 RUR) and the housing maintenance and utilities unit of Prigorodniy district (Gornouralskiy municipality) with its 41,092,900,000 RUR worth of debts. Gornouralskiy housing unit, with its 13 million RUR worth of debt, hasn’t paid the company anything for 28 months, Degtyarsk-based Biosphere hasn’t been paying for 25 months (and its debt comes

Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) has been doing raids of poultry farms in order to avoid possible problems occasioned by the beginning of the spring migration of birds. 19 out of 22 regional farms have been inspected for bird flu and compliance with the safety and prevention rules over the last two months. The farms have to be of a closed type, possess sanitary inspection rooms and be equipped with insulated disinfection barrier zones as well as have enough disinfectants and personal protection equipment in stock. This activity has been

The officers from the local division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the regional law-enforcement officers have recently taken a number of steps aimed at preventing economic crimes in the area; this has resulted in disclosing a series of financial frauds attributed to Bogdanovich Porcelain Works CFO. This executive is believed to have stolen 23 million RUR belonging to the company by transferring this money in the form of bill payments into the accounts of a fictitious firm that had allegedly sold the plant top-of-the-range equipment which, in fact, turned out to be a pile of

Rosselkhoznadzor (the state agricultural watchdog) banned the import of a few batches of meat produce proved to contain salmonellosis-related pathogens. These included 24.5 tons of U.S.-made chicken ribs, 24.9 tons of chicken wings and 25.9 tons of chicken legs from Brazil, and 19.9 tons of pork skins from Germany. This is why Rosselkhoznadzor set temporary limits on meat supplies from the U.S.-based Р-19128, Brazilian SIF 1797 and SIF 601, and German D SH-EUZ 10 EWG beginning from May 3, 2007. The agency asked the veterinary services in the U.S., Brazil, and Germany to look into the causes

Bank24.ru held a seminar on the modern savings techniques on April 24, 2007. The bank’s experts spoke on how to protect your money from inflation and make it yield profit; the company’s bill program appeared to receive the listeners’ greatest attention. ‘This is hardly surprising, as people are well aware of the benefits a bank deposit can offer, whereas bills of exchange are still a grey area to many of them. In the meantime, our bank’s bill schemes yield up to 13.75% a year, which is an interest rate not too many deposits can boast. Besides, a bill of exchange is a reliable way of making

The average existing home price in Yekaterinburg amounted to 67,055 RUR per square meter on April 24, 2007, reports the Analytical Department of Ural Chamber of Real Estate. The average existing home prices (per square meter of dwelling) in the center of Yekaterinburg (i.e. in Moskovskaya St., Chelyuskintsy St., Vostochnaya St., Dekabristy St., Belinskiy St., and Bolshakov St.) came to 80,357 RUR. The figure reached 70,472 RUR in Yekaterinburg’s most expensive residential area (Avtovokzal, Yugo-Zapadniy, Parkoviy, Botanicheskiy, Vtuzgorodok, Shartashskiy, ZhBI, Pionerskiy – downtown and the

MegaFon Ural, the mobile operator, decided to make international roaming cheaper for the summer period. All of the company’s subscribers will have every other minute of in-coming calls free as long as they are in the Holiday zone. What is more, an out-going text message will also be 20% less expensive and will only come to 12 RUR (VAT included). The offer is valid from May 1, 2007 to September 30, 2007. The Holiday zone comprises countries that are classed as Europe, America, and Other Countries in terms of their tariff zones. ‘People often have to limit themselves to shorter conversations

Sberbank of Russia introduced a special offer on May 2, 2007. Any customer using BLITZ money order or an international one in any of the bank’s Yekaterinburg-based subsidiaries will be able to get a DeltaTel phone card that provides for a free call to any Russian or foreign city. The amount of money you send does not matter. One can take advantage of the offer until May 8, 2007; the time span was chosen due to the fact that there are normally quite a few money orders at the beginning of May, so the bank’s clients can be in for a pleasant surprise. BLITZ takes about an hour for the addressee

Rosselkhoznadzor (the state agricultural watchdog) decided to allow some Polish bloodstock, born and raised at Polish farms certified for supplying pedigree cattle to Russia by both Russian and Polish vets, to be imported to Russia. The agency notified the EU Health and Consumer Protection Directorate General that it was willing to send a group of its experts to examine and certify Polish farms interested in supplying cattle to Russia. This visit might take place as early as this May, after the Polish authorities provide Rosselkhoznadzor with a list of such farms and the inspections schedule.

A new office of Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development was set in operation in the course of a solemn ceremony on April 27, 2007. Yekaterinburg’s first bank-hosting skyscraper is located at the heart of the business quarter at 67 Sacco & Vanzetti St. The symbolic ribbon-cutting ritual was performed by the bank’s president Sergey V. Dymshakov, Head of the Central Bank of Russia in Sverdlovsk Region Sergey V. Sorvin, and Chair of the Union of Ural Bankers Valentina V. Muranova. At a press briefing that followed, the bank’s management spoke on the success of their business in 2006 and

Ural Airlines backed Russian Seasons XXI (Tamar and Scheherezade, two one-act ballets starring the Bolshoy and Maryinskiy Theaters’ leading dancers Nikolai Tsiskaridze, Ilse Liepa, Irma Nioradze, and Ilya Kuznetsov as well as the Kremlin Ballet dancers) that took place in Yekaterinburg on April 24-25, 2007. The carrier’s press officer reports that supporting such culturally promoting projects is one of most important directions in the airline’s corporate social responsibility program.

According to the Expert-Siberia magazine, profits made by Siberia’s largest banks went up nearly 100%, with approximately 60% of revenues attributed to URSA Bank; the same is true of net wealth indicators. URSA Bank was actually No. 1 in the net wealth rating as well as in the securities portfolio one. It also became Siberia’s major bank in terms of investments made by natural persons, the bank’s press officer says.

Evraz Group published a very impressive financial report for the year 2006. The company’s revenues went up 27.4% and amounted to $8,292 million, its EBITDA grew 42.7% and reached the point of $2,652 million, and its net profit increased by 50.9% and came to $1,385 million. The company’s steel output last year exceeded the figures for 2005 by 16% and came to 16.1 million tons; the semi-products output went up 29%, that of heavy plate 135%, that of rolled steel for construction purposes 6.3%. Besides, these products are now sold at impressively growing prices. Evraz Group’s financial success

The recent negotiations held by the management of Koltsovo airport and Ural Airlines have finally resulted in an agreement over the summer slots for 2007, reports the carrier’s press officer. Ural Airlines summer slots are going to almost fully coincide with the so-called historic slots for the summer of 2006. Ural Airlines’ press officer says Koltsovo airport has been responsible for the carrier’s chartered flights delay on a number of occasions this year, obviously inconveniencing the passengers greatly. These events outraged both the company’s clients and the local travel agents. Ural

A few days ago, Kirovskiy Court of Yekaterinburg completed the criminal case related to a bridge failure at the intersection of Shevchenko-Vostochnaya-Sovetskaya St. in Yekaterinburg on September 4, 2006. The investigation revealed that the building and assembly jobs had been performed without a building permit and the design documentation hadn’t undergone the obligatory examination by experts. This violation of the law was occasioned by the negligence of Viktor Menshchikov, director of Blagoustroystvo and the customer. The grave designing mistakes and violations of technological provisos (as

Keeping good partnerships with each other is a must for modern carriers, so Ural Airlines can boast round about fifty interline agreements with the major Russian and foreign airlines, including Czech airlines (the Czech Republic), Emirates (United Arab Emirates), Swiss International Air Lines (Switzerland), Air France (France), S7, UTair, and a number of others, the company’s press officer says. In addition, Ural Airlines keeps doing business with Malev Hungarian Airlines since the latter has recently resumed flying its passengers from Yekaterinburg. The two carriers signed their first

‘Industrial production went up 11.2% in January-March 2007 compared with the first quarter of 2006; this is twice better than the Russian average,’ Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel announced at a recent press conference. ‘Investments in the field increased by 21%; this amounts to approximately 26 billion RUR. The housing market grew 40%, with 176,000 square meters of new dwellings introduced within the given period. The regional retail trade turnover rose by 27% and came to 82 billion RUR. The average salary was raised by 31%,’ the Governor said.