Alapaevsk Customs and Yekaterinburg Customs (both parts of Ural Customs Administration) filed a criminal suit against a group of offenders who were trying to smuggle some consumer goods, Administration’s press officer reports. As it happens, one of the regional profit-making organizations placed its cargo manifest with Yekaterinburg Customs; the cargo in question was a railway carriage going from Rezh station to Tajikistan. The paper stated that there was pine carving wood and linoleum inside. The obligatory check, however, revealed that the actual weight of the alleged linoleum was much

‘The volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Region banks to legal entities came to approximately 200 billion RUR on April 1, 2007. Loans to sole traders amounted to 10 billion RUR, loans to individual borrowers reached 70 billion RUR,’ First Deputy Minister for Economics and Labor Nikolai Bespamyatnikh reported at a press conference devoted to banks’ contribution to the country’s economy on May 24, 2007.

Most of Russian blue chips kept going down on May 24, 2007: they were .9% to 4.1% less expensive at both RTS and MICEX as early as 10.45 AM; RTS and MICEX indices dropped down to 1,792.45 and 1,566.37 points, respectively. At MICEX, RAO UES of Russia’s shares (EESR) were sold 2.4% cheaper, those of LUKOIL (LKOH) became 1.8% less expensive, those of GazProm (GAZP) dropped by 2%, those of Norilsk Nickel (GMKN) dropped by 3.1%; the shares of SurgutNefteGas (SNGS) were sold 2.8% cheaper, the price of those of TatNeft (TATN) decreased by 1.4%, TransNeft’s shares (TRNF) went down by 4%.

Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Physical Education, Sports and Tourism and Ural State University are holding an interregional conference known as The Greater Urals Tourist Forum on May 24-25, 2007. The event is supported by the regional government and Rostourism. ‘The agenda of the conference covers issues of foreign travelers coming to the Urals and creating and promoting the Greater Urals brand in Russia and abroad,’ Ural Airlines’ press officer says. The carrier has already come up with a few new offers to make foreigners’ visits more comfortable. The company’s English and German corporate

RENOVA Stroy Group presented its Academic Construction Project at Real Vienna 2007 International Exhibition on May 23, 2007. The exhibition usually attracts Western and Eastern Europe’s largest investment projects. The company’s press officer says the project stand was located in Messezentrum Wien Neu, the exposition’s main pavilion. At least a few hundred visitors had a look at the stand within the first few hours of the opening; these were mainly European officials and entrepreneurs, including Vienna’s Vice Mayor, Vienna’s Minister for Finances and Economic Policies Renate Brauner, and top

The regional division of the Bank of Russia registered Financial System bank management fund under the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Registration number is 04657779500015. ‘The new fund will mainly invest in Russian banks’ shares; this segment was chosen because Russian banks need to develop quicker than any other sectors if we want to boost the country’s economic growth. When economy is on the rise, banking services enjoy greater demand; market capitalization and liquidity within this segment goes up as well, all of which improves the dividend payments and stock price. In

Rosselkhoznadzor (the state agricultural watchdog) reports that 31.2 million hectares of land, or 63.4% of the target figures, have been sown by May 22, 2007. This is 957,000 hectares less than a year earlier; 20.1 million hectares were used for spring crops; this comes to 64.1% of the target figures. The sowing has been delayed by eight to ten days (compared to the usual beginning of the sowing campaigns) in Ural Federal District and the Volga Region due to inclement weather; only 850,000 hectares, or 20% of the planned area, have been sown in Ural Federal District, with spring crops and

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of nongovernmental financial institutions’ deposits in Uralfinprombank valid for 3 or more years went down 100% (from 4.5 million RUR to zero) in January-April 2007.

Regional deputies have recently considered a draft agreement between Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for State Property Management and the city council regarding the distribution of land allotments in Yekaterinburg, since neither of the entities has a distinct property right over these areas. The agreement was assessed at the meeting devoted to adopting changes in the regional land management law. According to one point of this agreement, a representative of the Ministry (who has to be a committee member) would be able to veto the committee’s decisions. If this representative does use his or her

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by GRAN Bank to sole traders for 181 days to 1 year went down 50% (from 43.160 million RUR to 21.157 million RUR) in January-April 2007.

A fortnight-long survey conducted through SKB-Bank’s corporate website indicates that over one-quarter of people wishing to buy an apartment are going to use a mortgage. There were 180 respondents altogether. 44% of those surveyed said they were worried about the sky-high prices and admitted they couldn’t possibly afford to move to a larger place at the moment. About 2% reported they were hoping to get a company apartment or a company loan. 9% of respondents are planning to buy a dwelling using a consumer loan, whereas the majority of those who do plan to buy a place are going to use a

Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Oleg Gusev chaired a meeting of the committee accountable for all the preparations for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization head of states meeting in Yekaterinburg in 2009. The agenda of the meeting covered the financial issues; according to some preliminary estimates, about 15 billion RUR will be provided by the federal budget reserves, 18 billion RUR will be contributed by Sverdlovsk Region budget, and 2.6 billion RUR will be invested by Yekaterinburg budget. In addition, companies and enterprises are expected to provide about 90 billion RUR, the

Federal Antimonopoly Service accepted the application of Metalloinvest Management Company and United Machine Building Works (aka OMZ (Obedinennye Mashinostroitelnye Zavody, formerly United Heavy Machinery)) regarding the request to set up Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation. The Service also accepted their petition about providing the new company’s authorized capital through shares of ORMETO YUMZ and Uralmashzavod. This large corporation will unite UZTM (Ural Heavy Machine Building Plant), Uralmash-SpetsStal Ltd., OMZ DRO, OMZ Crane Ltd., and ORMETO-YUMZ Heavy Engineering Joint Stock Co.,

Regional Court of Arbitration rejected the claims laid by Koltsovo airport and declared the decision taken by Federal Antimonopoly Service was legitimate. The whole issue began with Ural Airlines complaining that the airport had been refusing them slots needed for Yekaterinburg-Moscow flights (departure 8.15 AM and 6.40 PM ), Moscow-Yekaterinburg (departure 10.20 AM and 10 PM) as well as the so-called historic slots (summertime flights) which had been offered to Aviaprad instead. In December 2006, Sverdlovsk Region Federal Antimonopoly Service declared the airport violated the completion

URSA Bank held a press conference devoted to their experience with international investors and attracting foreign capital to Russia in Kazan on May 21, 2007. This was part of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development international forum; some reports were presented by URSA Bank Chairman Igor Kim, Member of the Board Alexander Taranov, and First Deputy GD Vladislav Khokhlov. ‘The media have been paying a lot of attention to our dynamic financial growth and long-term cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Our profits more than tripled last year, and

SverdlovEnergoSbyt, Nizhniy Novgorod Supplies, Kuzbass Energy Supplies, and OrenburgEnergoSbyt sold their share holdings belonging to RAO UES of Russia by auction on May 22, 2007. The opening bid for 49% of SverdlovEnergoSbyt’s shares was 1.15 billion RUR; that for 100% of shares of OrenburgEnergoSbyt was 1.11 billion; the price difference between each bid had to be at least 25 million RUR. There were seven participants (coming from both Russia and abroad) altogether. Center Region Invest was able to acquire both SverdlovEnergoSbyt and OrenburgEnergoSbyt’s share holdings at the opening

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of nongovernmental financial institutions’ deposits in METCOMBANK valid for 1 to 3 years went down 99% (from 32million RUR to 208,000 RUR) in January-April 2007.

The PR Department of the British Consulate General in Yekaterinburg reports that their visa section is soon to be located at a new address, namely, 36 Gogol St. Off. 1002. The office is situated on the tenth floor. Up to May 28, 2007, visa applicants will be interviewed in the old building (24 Lenin St.)

Yekaterinburg municipal duma deputies approved of the city’s budgetary report for 2006 on May 22, 2007. As it happens, the revenues amounted to 15 billion RUR, which is 8.8% better than the annual target figures. About 4 billion RUR were donated by the regional and federal budgets as well, duma’s press officer reports. Local legal entities still have to transfer 1 billion RUR to Yekaterinburg’s budget; then, the budgetary expenses came to approximately 13.4 billion RUR, which falls short of the annual target figures by 1.4%. These were occasioned by spending on education (34.5%), public

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin decided to set up an ad hoc committee responsible for design and construction of the federal cardiovascular surgery center. The committee consists of First Deputy Governors Vladimir Dyatlov and Andrei Kosilov, Head of Federal Property Management Agency in Chelyabinsk Region Alexander Vlasov, Minister for Radiation and Environmental Safety Gennadiy Podtesov, and voluntary Deputy Governor Grigory Petukhov. The committee has to come up with the design and construction schedule before June 10, 2007. The new clinic is going to become Ural Federal