Sverdlovsk Region division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service ruled that Bank of Moscow violated Article 11 (part 1, paragraphs 1 and 5) of the Competition Protection Act, the spokesperson for the division reports. The legal proceedings were instituted against the bank when it was suspected of violating the antimonopoly agreement. ‘The offense consisted in the fact that Bank of Moscow adopted a certain order of issuing consumer loans, car loans, and mortgages to private individuals. Also, the bank signed certain agreements with fourteen Yekaterinburg-based insurers; the implementation of

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin took part in the government meeting on economic development and integration in Moscow. The meeting was chaired by Deputy Head of the Russian Federation Government Igor Shuvalov. The agenda covered issues related to the socioeconomic development and industrial diversification of towns with only one major employer (usually a big industrial enterprise). The Governor presented his multi-faceted investment plan for the development of Nizhniy Tagil, Sverdlovsk Region. According to the project, the town’s economy will receive 124 billion RUR worth of

‘We are currently on the look-out for the future owner of President Business Center located at the intersection of Boris Yeltsin St. and Chelyuskintsev St. We are aware of the so-called postponed demand brought about by the economic situation at the moment. At the same time, our main goal is to fill the building with tenants,’ RED Management Company’s Marketing & Development Director Vladilen Stolyarov said in the course of a round table discussion on the launch of new business centers in Yekaterinburg. Now the estimated area of the building comes to about 34,000 sq m; the company

‘The third extension to Antey Business Center will be divided into two smaller sections. The fifty-four-storey tower with the area of 75,000 sq m is expected to be launched in October 2010,’ the owner of Antey Business Center Andrei Gavrilovskiy reported in the course of a round table discussion on the launch of new business centers in Yekaterinburg. Yet the original deadline for the launch of the third extension expired as early as 2008. ‘It was decided that the eleven-storey building that was supposed to have been a hotel will be converted to an office. It is not too late to change one’s

OOO Omega Spirits Group is now on the list of companies that have overdue debt resulting from their bank loans. This news was announced at Sverdlovsk Region Government business support committee’s recent meeting. The meeting was chaired by Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Anatoly Gredin. Omega Spirits Group representative explained that the wholesaler fully paid off its loans to four banks and was able to come to debt restructuring agreements with the rest of them. The only exception to this trend was ZAO Bank VEFK-Ural that was recently declared bankrupt. Anatoly Gredin asked the

The sales of new passenger cars on the Russian market plunged by 37% in January 2010 compared with January 2009 and amounted to 74,090 vehicles, the European Business Association’s car manufacturers committee reports. The sales of AvtoVAZ-produced automobiles declined by 41% and reached 17,310 vehicles. General Motors sold 54% less this January, that is, 6,420 vehicles. The sales of Volkswagen decreased by 22% down to 5,150 vehicles, those of Ford, PSA Peugeot-Citroen, and Toyota dropped by 64%, 51%, and 54%, respectively, and down to 3,150, 2,070, and 3,730 vehicles, respectively. GAZ

‘It’s true that all of the luxury segment car centers had a hard time during the recession. Porsche’s sales, for one, plummeted by over 30% last year compared to 2007 and 2008. We sold about 120 cars in 2007-2008 but only 50 last year. However, things are getting better now, with sales actually going up a bit,’ Director of Porsche Center Yekaterinburg Alexander Lebedev said to UrBC. ‘Porsche cars are obviously enjoying demand again. The local dwellers are mainly interested in Porsche Cayenne at the moment. Also, the year 2010 should be a promising one for the new Porsche Panamera,’ Lebedev

Evraz Group is now looking into the reasons for a recent emergency at West Siberian Iron & Steel Plant that left three people injured. A small explosion with a splash of hot iron occurred at the plant’s oxygen converter shop 1 at 10:24 AM on February 8, 2010. Three workers were injured as a result. The rescue teams and the company’s management arrived at the scene at once and took all the measures necessary to cope with the problem. ‘According to our preliminary data, all the operations involving the converter in question (that is, the warm-up, the charge of the furnace with scrap metal,

Ural Airlines announced recently that the company’s fuel fees for international flights would be reduced by 50%. The discount covers the summer destinations most popular with Yekaterinburg dwellers. Thus the fuel fee for Yekaterinburg-Varna and Yekaterinburg-Burgas flights will only come to ?40 and that for Iraklion and Saloniki will come to ?45. The fees for flights to Pula, Tivat, and Tel Aviv will amount to ?45, ?45, and ?60, respectively. The tickets are available at the company’s booking offices between February 15, 2010 and March 15, 2010. The airline started selling tickets for the

Toyota’s Russian representation reported recently that the concern was going to call about 160,000 automobiles off the Russian market because of the possible accelerator pedal defects. The cars in question are the IQ, Yaris, Auris, Corolla, Verso, Avensis, and RAV4 makes produced in 2005-2010. The car owners will soon be requested to take their vehicles to the dealers’ offices for examination and possibly for repairs. ‘I am truly sorry about this worrying situation. Toyota has always placed its customers first, whatever the circumstances,’ says head of Toyota’s Russian representation Takeshi

The Bank of Russia came up with a list of the Russian Federation constituencies and municipalities whose rating comes to at least B-/B3. According to the bank’s official website, the list comprises thirty-eight Russian regions, including Sverdlovsk Region.

Rus, the nongovernmental retirement fund, won the court case against OAO AlfaStrakhovaniye, the insurance company. The plaintiff wanted to be paid the insurance money resulting from the company’s financial risk insurance agreement, the spokesperson for the retirement fund reports. Rus signed this financial risk insurance agreement with AlfaStrakhovaniye on April 1, 2008. An insurance event occurred, but the insurer failed to meet its contractual obligations, so Rus took the case to Moscow Arbitration Court, demanding that the indemnity be paid. Having looked into the case, the court ruled

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) supplied more metal goods to the Middle East in the year 2009 compared to the year 2008, MMK PR Department reports. Last year, MMK delivered 1,661 tons of goods to this key export region, which was 5% more than in 2008. Also, 35% of the company’s foreign market sales was exported to Asia and the Far East, 11% was supplied to Europe, and 6% was delivered to African countries. 1% and 3.6% of MMK’s exported goods went to North America and Central/South America, respectively. All in all, MMK exported 3,861 tons of goods last year. At the same time, the

The twelve departments of A.M. Gorkiy Ural State University are going to merge into four institutes by the summer of 2010. The public hearings on the new institutes’ design and policies will take place at USU on February 16-18, 2010; everyone is welcome to take part in the discussion. The decision regarding the merger and the hearing was taken by the university’s academic council. Ural State University is to be divided into the institutes of Mathematics & Computer Science, Natural Sciences, Political Sciences & Sociology, and Humanities. In addition to this, the departments now

President of Russian Railways Public Company Vladimir Yakunin held a telephone conference with his administration on the company’s performance in January 2010. Yakunin said the railways’ passenger turnover dropped by over 11% in January 2010 compared with the previous January. In order to make sure there are enough commuter trains in the Russian regions, Russian Railways intends to cooperate more effectively with the regional authorities. According to the company’s President, the regional budgets provided the business with 2.8 billion RUR last year in compensation for the losses the railways

OAO CIT Finance Investment Bank announced it was going to close down the company’s representations in thirty Russian cities including the ones in Nizhniy Tagil, Perm, and Nizhnevartovsk. The bank says this will be done due to the need to make their regional subsidiary network more cost-efficient.

Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works (NLMK) section iron division’s enterprises, which were united under OOO NLMK-Sort’s management in December 2009, produced 1.7 million tons of steel in 2009. This was 11% less than in 2008. Also, the enterprises sold 1 million tons of reinforcing bar to their customers, which was 5.7% less than in the year 2008. On the other hand, the sales of wire rod were up 1.2% last year compared to the year before and amounted to 68,000 tons. The sales of metal products also increased by 29% in 2009 compared to 2008, reaching 188,000 tons. However, the amount of steel

Microsoft once again came up with the findings of its piracy monitoring research involving retail computer stores in Russian provinces. According to these findings, about a quarter of the 2,500 outlets inspected (all of which are located in fifty-three different cities of Russia) offer unlicensed software for sale in one way or another. 11% of the stores inspected offer their customers pre-installed pirated software. Microsoft reports that, despite the general decrease in the supply of counterfeits (from 63% of the total market volume in September 2009 down to 30% in November and December

‘This year has already seen a certain revival of the local automobile market. We haven’t got any shortage thanks to the company’s shipping volumes and working policies. However, it’s true of Yekaterinburg’s car market as a whole that there might be not enough expensive cars for customers to buy,’ OOO Mercedez Benz official dealer Delta Center’s Sales Manager Andrei Yurtanov said to UrBC. ‘The demand did go down a bit, even though we have regular customers and special policies. Our statistical data is based on incidental sales rather than a big customer flow, but, all in all, our sales volumes

‘We haven’t got any information regarding Alexei Kalinichenko’s extradition from Morocco yet. But we have been keeping a very close eye on the development of affairs,’ the spokesperson for Ural Federal District’s Department of Internal Affairs Main Administration told UrBC. Alexei Kalinichenko is suspected of setting up a pyramid scheme in Russia through a company called Global Gaming Expo. He is accused of stealing over 1 billion RUR from 4,000 Russian citizens. The businessman was earlier detained in Italy, so the Russian authorities insisted on is extradition. The Italian court ruled in