Yekaterinburg Municipal Duma deputies considered Yekaterinburg State Property Management Committee’s report on the buildings and monuments on the city’s cultural heritage list at their latest committee meeting. During the meeting, the deputies expressed their concern over the protection of the buildings in question. For one, Deputy Eduard Romanovskiy mentioned a low-rise dwelling in Rosa Luxemburg St.: the structure had been pulled down by ZAO Metaline without any legitimate permission. Romanovskiy said the developer was never really punished. N. Grenaderova explained to those present at the

‘Our sales forecasts for the mobile phones market are over 32 million items in 2010 and about 35 million in 2011 provided that the average price stays the same or 36 million in case the cheaper segments grow more popular again. We might fully restore our pre-recession sales levels in 2012,’ Euroset’s report on trends on the Russian retail market of mobile phones and portable appliances in January-September 2010 says. According to the mobile phone chain’s report, some 22.4 million phones were sold on the Russian retail market in the nine months of this year; this figure was 24% more than that

Sverdlovsk Region Minister for Industry & Science Alexander Petrov came to OAO Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant on a working visit in order to check on Iron Ozone 32, an advanced electric furnace steel-making facility and one of the region’s strategically important investment projects to be launched this fall. ‘The significance of this investment project can hardly be overestimated. ChTPZ Group’s Iron Ozone 32 is the first mini-plant of such quality to be built in Russia or the CIS from scratch in the last decade. This is also Sverdlovsk Region’s grandest investment project for this year.

Sverdlovsk Region division of the Federal Migration Service inspected 236 buildings (including 158 residential buildings, 53 newly built housing blocks, 19 stores, and 6 other structures) in the first three days of its Operation Patent. The division’s press officer reports violations on the part of both the foreign workers and their employers were revealed as a result, and all the culprits had to face administrative prosecution. All in all, thirty-three foreign citizens were prosecuted under Article 18.8 of the Russian Federation Administrative Offense Code, twelve subjects were prosecuted

Tyumen Region Arbitration Court supported the ruling of Tyumen division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service which imposed a 3.58 million RUR fine on OAO GSK Yugoria. The insurance company was fined for colluding with Uniastrum Bank in order to limit the competition on the car insurance market. GSK Yugoria tried to contest the FAS’s verdict in court, claiming that it admitted a collusion attempt and had already canceled the corresponding agreement with the bank.

The Russian Federation Government introduced a set of measures to support the Russian provinces at the time of a financial downfall. However, this support is not a proof against the local authorities’ failures, the international rating agency Standard & Poor's says in its recent report: ‘The anti-recession measures taken by the government did improve the situation in the Russian regions, but did not prevent any future breakdowns.’ The analysts behind the report believe that these provincial breakdowns are actually not very likely to happen. Nevertheless, given the federal

OAO Ural Airlines operated its Yekaterinburg-Sofia-Yekaterinburg flight for the first time this week. The opening ceremony included a presentation and a press conference at the departure lounge prior to the plane heading back for Yekaterinburg. The press conference was attended by the airline representatives, airport executives, and officials from Bulgaria’s Transport Ministry. Champagne and a custom-made cake were served at the event, the plane crew was given a fruit ‘bouquet’, and a water salute was organized by Sofia Airport to welcome the new carrier. In fact, the flight to Sofia is the

The Bank of Russia’s PR Department reports the reorganization of ZAO Kommerzbank (Eurasia), namely, the bank’s merging with ZAO Dresdner Bank, resulted in the liquidation of the latter. The corresponding entry in the United State Register of Legal Entities was made by Moscow division of Russia’s Federal Tax Service on September 24, 2010. Following this entry, a note stating that ZAO Dresdner Bank stopped operating on September 24, 2010 was made in the Book for State Registration of Lending Institutions.

A delegation of ambassadors representing some Latin American countries in the Russian Federation is going to visit Sverdlovsk Region on October 7-8, 2010. The agenda of the visit covers meetings with the heads of regional ministries, the representatives of local scientific and business communities, and college students. In addition, a so-called ‘free microphone’ discussion will be organized for the ambassadors and the representatives of Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises and organizations interested in considering the cooperation options available.

Khanty-Mansiysk Customs processed 307,000 tons of freight in January-September 2010; this figure was 41% lower than that for the nine months of 2009, the customs’ press service reports. All in all, the region’s customs points processed 4,340 cargo manifests, with Khanty-Mansiysk Customs transferring 4.02 billion RUR to the federal budget.

The court officers from Oktyabrskiy district division of Russia’s Federal Service of Court Officers in Sverdlovsk Region detected in the course of their enforcement proceedings that OOO Temp Management Company has a number of additional accounts at OAO Bank24.ru. The division’s press service reports the debtor company in question, which is based in Yekaterinburg’s Oktyabrskiy district, was re-registered with Kirovskiy district’s tax inspectorate and had a few accounts opened at OAO Bank24.ru. These accounts were arrested alongside with nine more accounts in some other banks; over 4.96 million

The trade union of OAO Evrazruda (Evraz Group’s ore mining division) managed to persuade the company’s management to launch a pay rise recently. Evrazruda’s Managing Director Alexander Salkov and the trade union’s chairwoman Svetlana Boyeva signed a joint decree that provides for a 5% increase in average pay (including base wages and salaries) starting September 1, 2010, which will expand the salaries fund correspondingly. In addition, the enterprise promised to transfer 7.5 million RUR onto the trade unions’ accounts by November 1, 2010 in order to meet its obligations for the year 2009. As

A recent audit check at Khanty-Mansiyskiy Non-State Retirement Fund conducted upon the regional authorities’ request revealed numerous legal offenses in the way the fund’s finances were managed, the fund’s President Alexei Okhlopkov said at a press conference the other day, Kommersant reports. Okhlopkov was quoted as saying that the fund’s asset management system had been built upon a network of management companies that were associated with the retirement fund’s previous administrators. ‘This meant these companies were focusing not only on investment but on some other tasks as well. The

A group of officials from Ural Federal District will visit Qatar on October 3-8, 2010. The delegation, chaired by the Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Nikolai Vinnichenko, will consist of about fifty people, including the representatives of Russia’s Internal Affairs Ministry and heads of Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, and Tyumen Regions and other federal constituencies within Ural Federal District as well as directors of major Urals-based industrial enterprises and holdings, the spokesperson for Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Enterprise

Following a downfall in its investment projects, the German wholesale hypermarket chain is planning to go back to the pre-recession expansion rates in Russia next year, Interfax refers to Jeroen de Groot, Managing Director Metro C&C Russia at Metro Cash and Carry as announcing. Now the chain’s investment program shrank considerably in 2009 and 2010: for one, Metro Cash & Carry set up nine new shopping centers in Russia in the year 2008 but only four in the year 2009, so the total number of Metro’s Russian stores reached fifty-two. According to Metro representatives, the company

LSR Group reports it is going to make the management of its Urals-based assets more centralized. The company says the Ural branch of LSR Group Management Company has already started working in Yekaterinburg. The branch will be run by the General Director of LSR Ural Management Company Andrei Bibikov. In the near future, LSR Ural Management Company is to merge with the holding’s main management company. The new branch is expected to run LSR Group’s Urals-based assets: ZAO Nova-Stroy, OAO Betfor Concrete Goods Plant, OOO SMU Nova-Stroy, OOO PKU Nova-stroyProyekt, and OAO Uralshcheben.

OOO DVI Ural is now on the list of companies that owe over 1 million RUR to the federal budget as of September 15, 2010. The news was announced by Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Tax Service.

Ukraine’s Consulate-General in the Ural Region, which is currently located in Tyumen, might be transferred to Yekaterinburg. The suggestion was made by Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Anatoly Gredin to the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Russia Vladimir Yelchenko in the course of a recent meeting. Meanwhile, a plenary session of Russian-Ukrainian Interregional Forum was held in Yekaterinburg a few days ago. The forum was attended by the representatives of Ukrainian political and business communities and of the member constituencies of Ural Federal District. The

OAO Nizhneserginskiy Metal Goods Plant/NSMMZ does not owe anything to the federal budget at the moment,’ the plant’s press secretary Olga Zimareva said to UrBC. Now Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Tax Service recently placed NSMMZ (the asset of NLMK Group) on the list of companies that owe over 1 million RUR to the state budget as of September 15, 2010. ‘The data provided by the division may have to do with some disputable sums that are currently under court investigation since it’s not certain the money was charged rightfully,’ Ms Zimareva suggested. According to the plant,

OAO Bogoslovskoye Ore Division is now on the list of companies that owe over 1 million RUR to the federal budget as of September 15, 2010. The news was announced by Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Tax Service.