Sverdlovsk Region’s fire stations now have 163 units of special forest fire fighting vehicles, most of which are in unsatisfactory condition. About a half of all the vehicles are one hundred percent worn out, about a third are 80% to 100% worn out, and only twelve vehicles are under 80% worn out, Ural Federal District Forestry Department reports. At the same time, Sverdlovsk Region does not have enough machinery for fighting forest fires. For one, the five Type 3 fire stations that will be set up in the region in 2011 need twenty fire fighting tank cars, ten off-road bulldozers, and fifteen

Sverdlovsk Region might become a member of Russia’s Innovational Regions Association this fall, Ural Federal University Provost for Innovations Sergey Kortov announced at a press conference today. We couldn’t join the association last year due to the lack of legislative grounds. For example, Tomsk, which is currently the country’s leader in the field of innovations, has ten necessary laws, but we only had one piece of legislation back then; as a result, the Mid-Urals’ legislative base was insufficient,’ Kortov explained. The official believes that now, however, Sverdlovsk Region meets all the

UrBC, Moscow, July 13, 2011. The Metallosnabzheniye I Sbyt magazine July-August 2011 issue carried a rating of the leading ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgical enterprises and metal-trading companies in the first half of 2011. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) was declared the best rolled sheets manufacturer on the list. The rating is based on the questionnaires filled in by metal goods consumers, surveys where metal market experts acted as respondents, and multi-faceted analysis of the metallurgical enterprises’ activity. The best companies were selected on the basis of the

RIA-Analitika’s Center for Economic Analysis experts did a research on the banking systems of the countries of the CIS on the basis of the official banking statistics data and the bank’s reports available from the public sources. In the end, the experts produced a rating of the Commonwealth’s top hundred largest banks (in terms of asset volume as of January 1, 2011). As a matter of fact, Georgia’s banks are featured in the rating, even though this country left the Commonwealth of Independent States two years ago. Five member states turned out not to have banks whose asset volume would be

Turkey is still the most popular country with Russian tourists in terms of bookings in July 2011: 34.7% of all the inquiries made through Tourindex are related to this country. However, this figure is nearly 4.3% smaller than in June 2010, the Association of Russian Tour Operators’ Analytic Service reports. In comparison with June 2010, the total number of Turkey-related inquiries dropped by almost 60% in June 2011. Still, Turkey remained three times more popular than Greece, whose share in the total number of tourist inquiries came to 12% in June. As for Egypt, the number of inquiries

Sverdlovsk Region-based borrowers are getting less active in the summer of 2011, which the lending market players say has to do with the seasonal variations. According to the mortgage advisor Optima Credit, the demand for loans slumped by 17% in the beginning of summer compared with May 2011, with greatest downfalls observed in the business loans sector (47%) and mortgages (46%). The demand for consumer loans declined by 9%, whereas that for automobile loans has remained the same. The business loans are really not so popular with the borrowers just now. However, some businesspeople keep

It might become illegal to sell right hand drive cars imported to Russia recently. Such was the proposal contained in the project on the new technical regulations for vehicles within the single Customs Union which comprises Russia, Kazakhstan, and Byelorussia, Vedomosti reports. Right hand drive cars are already banned in Kazakhstan and Byelorussia. When the proposal was first voiced in preparation for the Russian technical requirements for vehicles in 2009, drivers protested en masse, especially in the Far East. According to head of the Ministry for Industry and Trade Alexei Rakhmanov, the

Yekaterinburg is going to get a technological park meant for waste recycling. The facility will be located on the outskirts of the city, on the premises of the older landfill Shirokaya Rechka, President of Waste Recycling Association Mikhail Malkov announced today. The facility is expected to cover the entire area of the premises, namely, over forty hectares. In addition to the main units (the sorting unit, the fuel-producing unit, and a mini heat and power station), the facility will also get a scientific research center, a hothouse and a mini zoo. The project provides not only for waste

SKB-Bank keeps developing its subsidiary networks and has recently set up a new office in Pskov, the capital of Pskov Region. Pskov is one of Russia’s oldest cities, first mentioned in the chronicles in 903. Its thousand-year history, rich cultural heritage, and numerous architectural masterpieces make the city one of Russia’s most significant places in cultural and historical respect. The locals are especially proud of the Military Glory title Pskov was given in 2009. SKB-Bank’s Pskov office is located at 50a Oktyabrsky Ave. and welcomed private individuals from 9 AM to 7 PM on weekdays and

The communal housing services support fund informed Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin of the fund Board’s decision to resume the financing allocated for the region, the spokesperson for the regional Ministry for Energy & Communal Housing Services reports. The fund actually halted the financing in April 2011 in respect of capital repairs of apartment blocks and relocation of citizens from slums. This had to do with the fact that Sverdlovsk Region, like over twenty other regions, in fact, did not manage to complete all the jobs related to the land registry of all the

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court ruled on June 21, 2011 that NeftoOpt Ural based in Nizhniy Tagil, Sverdlovsk Region, should be declared bankrupt, thus closing case А60-12722/2011, Kommersant reports under the Insolvency Announcements heading. The company will now undergo bankruptcy proceedings. Vladimir Tomashevitch of Severo-Zapad Self-Regulatory Organization of Trustees in Bankruptcy Non-Commercial Partnership was appointed the enterprise’s trustee in bankruptcy.

Sinara-Development (Sinara Group) is about to start working on the second extension to Albatross, a large apartment block in Belinsky St and Savva Belykh St in Yekaterinburg, Sinara Group’s PR Department reports. Sinara Development built the first section of the block in 2009-2010. The new section will be put up in the place where a dilapidated two-storey house is situated at the moment, at 1 Savva Belykh St. The old building is to be pulled down, and all the dwellers have by now been relocated to new homes. The second extension to Albatross will be a two-entrance block, with the number of

The All-Russian Conservation Society carried out environmental monitoring of all Russian regions in June 2011, and it turned out that nearly all the environmental condition indicators in Ural Federal District were rather negative. Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region (Yugra) scored a total of -3, Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Region scored -4, Chelyabinsk Region scored -6, Sverdlovsk Region scored -8, and only Kurgan Region had a positive score of 3, the Society reports. The quality of Sverdlovsk Region’s air was estimated as unsatisfactory. According the results of the monitoring, Sverdlovsk

Sverdlovsk Region’s public prosecution authorities came up with a legal evaluation of the fact that the owners of a number of apartments in certain apartment buildings in Yekaterinburg had been billed for housing services by several communal housing services companies at the same time. For one, the authorities of Yekaterinburg Oktyabrsky district found out that the management company Zhilcom committed some legal offenses in its housing funds management activities. The management company started running the housing blocks in Oktyabsky district in 2010, following a tender carried out by a local

Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for State Property Management is going to look into the way the assets of Sverdlovsk Region Automobile Transport Union are used, the ministry’s press officer informed UrBC. At the time of their appointment, the new management of the Union was faced with a task of bringing its partnership with the leasers and tenants in compliance with the existing legislation. Our ministry intends to carry out a set of inspections to make sure the assets of the Union are properly operated and maintained,’ Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for State Property Management reports.

Bank Koltso Urala opened its 50th Russia-based office recently. This outlet is located in Orsk, Orenburg Region and is now the bank’s sixth office in this region. The new outlet is situated near an amusement park at 22 Lenin St and offers Orsk dwellers consumer loans, deposit schemes, bank cards, money order services or other kinds of payments, and exchange of currency. Legal entities can also have a settlement account opened there, enjoy the benefits of loans to businesses and sole traders, and use the appealing deposit offers as well as many other banking services. We are glad that it is in

Sverdlovsk Region’s retail chain stores agreed to comply with the request of Governor Alexander Misharin regarding the sale of certain food items at low prices to cater for the needs of the economically vulnerable citizens, heads of the chain stores and the food processing enterprises informed the regional Minister for Trade, Food, & Services in the course of a recent meeting, the Governor’s press office reports. Very soon, large retail companies will be offering Gubernatorsky bread, sausages, and other food items at special prices. Both the food manufacturers and the retailers join the

Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry admits that it is impossible at the moment to simplify the existing visa regimes for Russia and Great Britain, the Association of Russian Tour Operators reports. According to the Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov, the current British visa requirements, including extended waiting periods, are a source of numerous problems for tourists. However, there is no reason to hope things can change any time soon. ‘Britain is not prepared to sign any simplified visa regime agreements with Russia just now,’ Lavrov announced via his account at Twitter.com. In

This year’s millionth passenger traveled on board Ural Airlines’ plane today. The company keeps welcoming its special passenger increasingly earlier each year: in 2010, the millionth passenger traveled with Ural Airlines in August. This has to do with the fact that Ural Airlines’ passenger turnover rose by 20%, so this year we expect it to exceed two million people for the first time in our history,’ the airline’s press service reports. This year’s millionth passenger was Tatiana Berdyugina, who went on vacation to Sochi with her kids Juliana and Yaroslav. The company presented her with Wings

The customs of the Ural Customs Administration area transferred 15.346bn RUR to the federal budget in the second quarter of 2011, which was nearly 4.5bn more than in the first quarter of the year, the spokesperson for Ural Customs Administration reports. All in all, the local customs handed over 26.227bn RUR to the state treasury in the first half of 2011. The money coming in from the imported goods duties amounted to 22.533bn RUR, whereas the money coming in from the export duties reached 3.13bn RUR.