‘The issue of fires in Yekaterinburg’s skyscrapers still exists. The thing is, the highest fire motor ladder we’ve got is only 52 meters high, so it can only reach the 16th floor of a building,’ Deputy PR Director of Sverdlovsk Region division of the Ministry of Emergencies Natalia Zyranova says. ‘I hope we will be able to take measures to provide our firefighters with the appropriate equipment very soon, though,’ she notes. Yekaterinburg keeps getting more and more skyscrapers, even though the Ministry of Emergencies’ preparedness for possible fires leaves a lot to be desired.

Following the decision taken by Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin, all of the region’s retirees received 500 rubles as a Senior Citizen’s Day present; in addition, those living in old people’s homes were given special gifts; people from the region’s seventeen gerontological centers got new TV sets. The spokesperson for the Governor says over 333,000 senior citizens have already received 168 million RUR worth of subsidies. The total volume of subsidies meant for the elderly comes to 395 million RUR.

The 5th International Conference on Automatic Electric Drives was coordinated by State Polytechnic University in Saint Petersburg. A lot of experts from Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), Electroremont Ltd, and Privodnaya Technika Research and Development Center presented their reports. Vyacheslav Golovin, an MMK executive, made a report on the company’s strategy in terms of introducing more AC drives. Nearly 200 reports were made altogether, including 18 reports by MMK executives and Moscow State Technical University faculty. Even though representatives of Magnitogorsk Iron &

Sverdlovsk Region-based companies signed an agreement that provides for a 2,900-ruble minimum wage. The agreement was signed by the trade unions, Sverdlovsk Region government, and the union of employers. Beginning from October 1, 2007, no worker is supposed to make less than 2,900 RUR a month. The regional Federation of Trade Unions, however, reports that a number of employers refused to comply with the agreement claiming that they are not members of the regional Union of Employers and Entrepreneurs.

‘Aluminum is the metal of the future. This metal of the twenty-first century will be used for making cars, computers, airplanes, and various gadgets as soon as 2020,’ Dr. Michio Kaku, a U.S.-based physicist announced in the course of a conference referred to as Siberia’s Aluminum in Krasnoyarsk. The conference was coordinated by United Company RUSAL. Dr. Kaku is positive that the demand for aluminum is bound to increase over the next one hundred years. ‘Firstly, millions of people in, say, China and India, are becoming middle class at the moment, and they are going to need a lot more things

Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently signed a decree on state awards. SKB-Bank’s Chairman Mikhail Khodorovskiy was made Honored Economist of the Russian Federation for his economic and financial achievements. Mr. Khodorovskiy was one of the first people to start banking activity in the Urals. In September 1994, he set up a chair of banking business in Ural State Polytechnic University and has been running it ever since. Mr. Khodorovskiy has been working in SKB-Bank since June 1996; he’s moved on from the Planning and Analysis Director to Operational Management Director to Deputy

Yekaterinburg’s public prosecution authorities and Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Construction and Housing Maintenance and Utilities checked Mayak Corporation’s compliance with the construction norms in April 2007. The company is currently putting up two 26-storey apartment blocks in Bazoviy Lane. The inspection revealed that even though both skyscrapers were 70% complete, Mayak Corporation had no construction permit. This resulted in an administrative lawsuit and an accusation of violating the norms of construction, reconstruction, overhauls, and commissioning. Sverdlovsk Region Court of

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by VUZ Bank to sole traders despite overdraft went down by 70.22% (from 4.589 million RUR to 1.367 million RUR) in January-September 2007.

All the samples presented by Khortytsa (aka Hortiza) at the International Wine and Spirits Challenge — 2007 contest held in Great Britain were highly praised by the world’s most influential experts, the company’s press officer says. The contest, originally set up by Robert Joseph and Charles Metcalf, soon became the most respectable and large-scale strong drinks exhibition in the world. The participants compete in the International Spirits Challenge and the International Wine Challenge categories with their strong drinks and wines, respectively. There are normally 600 kinds of strong drinks

According to Finance magazine’s fourth annual rating, URSA Bank was rated 327th on Russia’s Top 500 largest companies list in terms of last year’s revenues. The bank’s proceeds amounted to 9.978 billion RUR in 2006, which exceeds the figures for 2005 by 189%. URSA Bank’s net profit rose by 192% and reached 1.464 billion RUR; its assets went up by 289% and came to 111.6 billion RUR. The bank’s equity capital increased by 426% and reached 15.021 billion RUR. The total revenues of all the five hundred companies on the list amounted to 20.3 trillion RUR, their consolidated profit came to 2.8

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UralFinPromBank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 31 to 90 days went down by 45.05% (from 255.187 million RUR to 140.236 million RUR) in January-September 2007.

The value of net assets of Energy – Mixed Investments (the unit investment trust) managed by Eurogreen Management Company Ltd. went down by .75% between September 24, 2007 and September 25, 2007. According to Eurogreen’s website, the company’s net assets decreased from 5,012,831.99 RUR on September 24, 2007 to 4,975,146.94 RUR on September 25, 2007.

Ural Airlines is to sign an agreement with Airbus on October 4, 2007, the carrier’s press officer reports. Upon the completion of this procedure, executives from both companies will take part in a press conference in Sverdlovsk Region Government House. These will be Ural Airlines’ General Director Sergey Skuratov and Airbus representatives from France and Moscow. Governor Eduard Rossel is expected to attend the conference as well.

GRAN Commercial Bank applied for a closing-down notice in the United State Register for legal entities; the bank stops operating as GRAN Bank proper, as the company’s shareholders decided that the bank was going to merge with Investbank. This decision was made at the annual general meeting. In addition, Investbank is also acquiring Voronezhprombank and CONVERSBANK.

Cement prices have already doubled since the beginning of the year in Russia, yet the price growth reached its peak in August and September 2007. As regards Sverdlovsk Region, the price race is actually comparable to that in Moscow. ‘It all depends on a particular supplier and their pricing policies. Nevyansk plant, for one, chose to freeze all the prices, whereas Gornozavodskcement raises prices by 7% to 10% on a monthly basis,’ SK Master Investment and Building Company’s Sales Manager Siamudin Agakhanov said to UrBC. There is a little profiteering at play as well. ‘Prices have grown by

Ural Airlines is to sign an agreement with Airbus on October 4, 2007, the carrier’s press officer reports. Upon the completion of this procedure, executives from both companies will take part in a press conference in Sverdlovsk Region Government House. These will be Ural Airlines’ General Director Sergey Skuratov and Airbus representatives from France and Moscow. Governor Eduard Rossel is expected to attend the conference as well.

The value of net assets of Energy – Mixed Investments (the unit investment trust) managed by Eurogreen Management Company Ltd. went down by .75% between September 24, 2007 and September 25, 2007. According to Eurogreen’s website, the company’s net assets decreased from 5,012,831.99 RUR on September 24, 2007 to 4,975,146.94 RUR on September 25, 2007.

A verdict was returned upon Mayak Corporation’s security officer Pavel Kilin in Oktyabrskiy court of Yekaterinburg on September 28, 2007. Mr. Kilin was found guilty of physical assault targeted at Sergey Kuznetsov, chairman of an NGO called Civil Rights Protection Center. This happened on September 21, 2007 when the Center organized a picket in order to denounce the activity of Mayak Corporation’s director Vladimir Konkov. The company’s security officers tried to stop the picketers, which led to Mr. Kuznetsov getting a brain concussion. Apart from that, the phalanges of his right-hand fingers

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development celebrated its 17th anniversary on September 28, 2007. ‘The bank kept growing in all respects throughout these years, which can be explained by the policy it chose to adopt on the region’s financial market. One of our development strategies at the moment is building up on retail services meant for individual customers and small and medium-scale businesses in all the parts of Russia where our offices operate,’ the bank’s President Sergey Dymshakov says. ‘We currently own seventy-seven offices in eight Russian regions and a number of

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of natural persons’ demand deposits and investments in Tyumenenergobank went down by 50.8% (from 150.083 million RUR to 73.833 million RUR) in January-August 2007.