The All-Russian Consumer Rights Protection Society coordinated a number of Quality Contests on the food market. The contests are aimed at checking the food manufacturers’ compliance with the governmental standards and selecting a winner, the so-called quality leader, in every market segment. The fist such contest has been held among vodka brands. ‘The contest is targeted at encouraging producers to compete for brand leadership and improve on quality. Strong drinks are one of the food market’s most challenging products, this is why we started with them,’ says the Society Chairman Mikhail

One of Yekaterinburg’s major developers started selling apartments in the seventh building of Sozvezdiye apartment block on April 21, 2008. Sozvezdiye is one the best places to buy a home in as far as the western end of the city is concerned. The total area of all the eight buildings within a block comes to over 80,000 square meters; the place is conveniently located along Fuchik St., Belinskiy St, and Tchaikovsky St. next to Dirigible mall, some kindergartens, a school, and an amusement park. Besides, the block is architecturally appealing and can boast nice apartment layouts, a spacious

ALNAS (known as ALNZ at RTS exchange and part of ChTPZ Group) set up a new maintenance shop for electric-centrifugal pump units in Buguruslan, Orenburg Region. This shop is to become a part of the company’s maintenance center, originally established in 2005 and servicing 1,200 oil wells (belonging to Orenburgneft, Saratovneftegas, SANEKO, and some others) at the moment, ChTPZ Group’s press officer reports. ‘ALNAS is planning to expand the range of services it offers to oil companies through introducing a full range of oil well services such as supervising of wells, maintaining the producing

‘A fire broke out on fifty square meters of one of the rooms at INEXPO exhibition center on April 19, 2008. The case is now being investigated by the authorities and it’s hard to say when the inquest is going to be over; however, the first preliminary data on what caused the fire and on the damage done might be available tomorrow afternoon,’ Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Ministry of Emergencies reports. On the night of the accident, a drum’n’bass festival was taking place on the premises of the center; after the fire broke out, some 5,000 people had to be evacuated; the fire is reported

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Khanty-Mansiyskiy Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 31 to 90 days went down by 94.01% (from 1.036 billion RUR to 62.121 million RUR) in January-March 2008.

The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development keeps implementing its strategy of making financial services available within a stone’s throw of any customer through expanding its subsidiary network. This means the number of customers, offices, and hi-tech products used keeps growing as well. Therefore the bank is increasingly focused on improving its IT resources. At the same time, the company is intent on providing its customers with the best service, making it as speedy as the customers would like it to be, and this is where reliable and advanced technology is a must. This is why the Ural

URSA Bank was able to win the 6th IT Leader National Prize in the Commercial Bank category. The bank’s Managing Director Sergey Shuvalov received the diploma commemorating the company’s significant contribution to IT development in Russia and a special badge of merit in the course of a solemn awarding ceremony in Moscow. The annual IT Leader Prize is given to companies and their IT directors in order to bring their IT achievements into the limelight. To win the prize, a company has to come up with really innovational IT solutions, show particular progress in IT development, and prove its IT

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Tagilbank to private individuals for 181 days to 1 year went down by 12.04% (from 16.3 million RUR to 14.337 million RUR) in January-March 2008.

Ural Turbine Plant presented a first-ever film about the company and a number of new products at Russia Power exhibition. The film acquaints the viewers with all the main production shops, the company’s engineering center, and the steam turbines that are currently employed at Novo-Sverdlovskaya power station, the companys press officer informed UrBC. According to the plant’s press officer, the company also exhibited the new makes of steam turbines for combined-cycle plants. One such turbine is meant for combined-cycle plant 410 located at the power station in Krasnodar; it will be connected

Pipe Metallurgical Company’s PR Department came up with the results of the company’s activity in the first quarter of 2008. The enterprise shipped 207,000 tons of tubes and pipes with varying diameters to consumers in January-March 2008; this falls short of the figures for the first quarter of 2007 by 8%, while the amount of oil country tubular goods shipped and the Russian market’s demand for the tubes decreased by 6% and 8.5%, respectively. The spokesperson for the company reports the transactions on the domestic market are on the decrease due to the need for large-diameter pipes becoming

Moscow, 21 April 2008 - UC RUSAL, the worlds largest aluminium and alumina producer, is pleased to announce the appointment of Jivko Savov to its Board of Directors. Jivko Savov is the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Eurosibenergo and Managing Director for Energy at EN+, where he has been managing a portfolio of power and energy assets since 2006. Mr. Jivko Savov worked for over 12 years in the energy sector within asset management, business development and structured finance. Commenting on his appointment, Jivko Savov said: I am delighted to have an opportunity to work with the highly

SKB-Bank’s former Financial Director Denis Repnikov was appointed the bank’s new Deputy Chairman on April 18, 2008. Denis P. Repnikov has been working for the company since April 2003. This means SKB-Bank now employs one First Deputy and four Deputy Chairmen.

Due to the rising number of forest fires, Chelyabinsk Region government decided to put a ban on hunting in the emergency zones. If fires keep breaking out, hunting anywhere in the region might be banned completely, the spokesperson for the Governor reports. Moreover, the region’s government prohibited hunting within the commons to prevent poaching. The only exception to the rule involves upland fowl, provided the authorities from Moscow forward their approval before April 24, 2008. Then, hunting he-ducks and woodcocks would be allowed on April 26-30, 2008 and from April 26, 2008 to May 5,

According to the National Managers’ League’s profitability ranking of unit investment trusts as of April 16, 2008, the share price of Troika Dialog Financial Sector (Troika Dialog Management Company) has gone down by 15.55% since the beginning of the year.

The volume of Yekaterinburg Municipal Bank’s own funds dropped by 16.1% in January-March 2008 and reached 466,092,000 RUR on April 1, 2008. This falls short of the figures for January 1, 2008 by 16.1%. These data are available from Bank Severnaya Kazna’s report on the financial success of Sverdlovsk Region, Chelyabinsk Region, Tyumen Region, and Perm Territory’s largest banks in the first quarter of 2008.

According to the National Managers’ League’s profitability ranking of unit investment trusts as of April 16, 2008, the share price of Russ Invest Stock and Bond (Russ Invest Management Company) has gone down by 16.14% since the beginning of the year.

URSA Bank introduced its eighth additional outlet in Chelyabinsk on April 18, 2008. The new office is located in Lenin Ave., right in the heart of the city. The solemn opening ceremony took place on noon: guests, URSA Bank employees, passers-by, and the office’s first customers clapped cheerfully as URSA Bank’s Managing Director Alexei Mizyulin and Chelyabinsk branch Director Andrei Rochev cut the traditional red ribbon at the door. ‘URSA Bank runs fifteen offices in Chelyabinsk Region at the moment, and this one has become the first outlet to be opened this year. In addition to this, we are

CEO Societe Generale Daniel Bouton is going to resign. The Financial Times reports this has to do with the financial scandal involving one of the bank’s traders who did $10bn worth of damage to the company. According to the bank’s press officer, though, the resignation is meant to signify the new page in the bank’s history after the whole thing is over.

According to the National Managers’ League’s profitability ranking of unit investment trusts as of April 16, 2008, the share price of BCS Consumer Sector Fund (BrokerCreditService Management Company) has gone down by 16.71% since the beginning of the year.

1.62 million RUR will be allocated from Chelyabinsk Region’s budget to set up Internet schools in the area. All of the region’s schools were provided with the Internet connection in July 2007, and these e-schools are going to become the next stage of the project that provides for virtual chemistry, physics, and biology labs and simulators that can assist the students in exam-taking. In addition, online lessons on all the topics a high school student is supposed to master within any given subject are provided. The study materials have been developed by the traditional textbook authors in