The awarding ceremony of the Delovoy Kvartal magazine’s Person of the Year Prize took place in Yekaterinburg recently. The Main Industrialist of the Year Prize went to Sinara Group’s Director-General Mikhail Khodorovsky. SKB-Bank’s Chairman of the Supervisory Board Vladimir Pukhov was declared the Banker of the Year, and Sinara Development’s Director-General Timur Ufimtsev was declared the Main Developer of the Year, Sinara Group’s PR Department reports. Mikhail Khodorovsky said Yekaterinburg made a very impressive leap forward over the last few years, which was possible, among other factors,

The 30,000 workers of Sberbank that are to be made redundant soon will actually not be fired, they will be transferred to other positions, head of Russia’s largest bank German Gref told Komsomolskaya Pravda in an interview on Friday, RIA Novosti reports. ‘Considerably fewer workers are needed now due to increased productivity of labor. However, we have no intention of firing them. This people’s potential is to be evaluated, and new jobs will be offered for them. Our business keeps expanding every day,’ he said. Gref actually said earlier that 30,000 people would be laid off following the

Alexander Petrov is leaving his office as the Director-General of the cosmetics manufacturer Concern Kalina. The company’s BOD decided to have his authority terminated at 11:59 PM on December 6, 2011. The Board of Directors also approved of the terms of the labor contract with the new Director-General and the wording of the order regarding the employment of the new DG. The name of the new executive has not been announced yet. The only thing that is certain is that he has not worked at Kalina before.

Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service considered the application of Unilever Rus regarding the purchase of a 100% voting shareholding in Concern Kalina that was submitted on October 21, 2011. The application was submitted in accordance with Article 28 of the Competition Protection Act. The Service came to the following conclusion: ‘The data and the documents submitted alongside the application meet the requirements set by Article 32 (part 5) of the Competition Protection Act. Based on Article 33 (part2, paragraph 1) of the Competition Protection Act, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service

‘Yekaterinburg-Expo is a difficult project to complete. No one has ever put up such big buildings here before. All the calculations have been done. The budget is finalized. The customer has all the money. The calculations related to most of the contractors are also finished. So some routine technical work is under way. A lot of public attention is always paid to such large-scale projects, so some smooth team work is needed here,’ Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin said in his interview to Oblastnaya Gazeta. ‘Sadly, there occurred a clash between the contractors and the customer

The modernization committee under the President of the Russian Federation might look into the issues related to the development of Sverdlovsk Region’s aluminum production facilities as soon as in two or three months, Governor Alexander Misharin told the reporters after a meeting with Krasnoturyinsk locals and plant workers. ‘Two to three months are needed to consider all the issues, prepare the documentation, and make decisions. However, most of these decisions have already been made,’ the Governor said when asked how soon the federal authorities might settle the issue of the local aluminum

Ural Airlines keeps on expanding its destinations network in China. Starting February 4, the air carrier will be operating a direct flight to one of China’s largest economic centers and tourist attractions Harbin. Flights will be operated every Saturday. The cheapest tickets are available for ?489 (plus the fees). Now Ural Airlines has been operating convenient flights from Yekaterinburg to China for a few years now. The airline offers a direct flight from Yekaterinburg to Beijing three times a week, and a new flight from Yekaterinburg to Guangzhou (with a stop in Novosibirsk) will be

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev suggested that the modernization committee should look into all the issues related to the development of Sverdlovsk Region’s aluminum-producing facilities soon. Until this committee meets, no electrolysis production facilities will be shut down at UC RUSAL’s Bogoslovsky smelter (the liquidation was announced by RUSAL a while ago). Such was the news that the region’s Governor Alexander Misharin voiced at a meeting with Krasnoturyinsk locals and plant workers on December 1. ‘We have the President’s decision to have the region’s entire aluminum production system

Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) declared that METRO Cash & Carry created some discriminatory conditions for some of its fish and seafood suppliers. Such actions constitute a violation of Article 13 (part 1, paragraph 1) of the Federal Act on the Bases of State Regulation of Trading Activity in the Russian Federation. The FAS committee came to the conclusion that making the cost of services METRO offers to its food suppliers in terms of product and sales promotion dependent on the turnover of goods as stated by the supply contract is discriminatory in nature. Thus the food

Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government and Minister for Industry & Science Alexander Petrov spoke about the potential investors of AMUR car factory during his business visit to Novouralsk. Among the criteria that matter to the government as far as the potential investors are concerned is their willingness to set up a full automobile production cycle on the premises of Novouralsk plant, to launch a separate facility for the manufacturing of car parts, and to create a scientific and technological center for advanced car-making technologies. ‘The priority will be given to those car

Rosaviation first issued a permission for Transaero to operate chartered flights to three Italian cities and then called it off, the air carrier claims. The airline has already signed agreements with tour operators and is now threatening to take the case to court. Rosaviation announced last night that the agency had never sent a permission to operate chartered flights to Italy to the air carrier, RBC daily reports. According to the airline, Rosaviation committee approved of their application for the operation of chartered flights from Moscow to Rome on October 28. However, as soon as November

Nomos-Bank still intends to buy the state-owned 44% shareholding in Khanty-Mansiysky Bank, the bank’s Executive Director for International Business Yuri Lekarev said at a banking forum in London, RIA Novosti reports. The bank announced earlier than its share in Khanty-Mansiysky Bank would go down from 31.31% to 7.79% as part of the banking group’s internal restructuring program; the shares were handed over to Nomos-Bank’s two daughter enterprises. The group controls 51.29% of Khanty-Mansiysky Bank’s shares altogether. Now the privatization of the state-owned 44.2% shareholding in the bank

Tyumen Region division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service declared that the fuel filling station Roschino-GSM, the daughter enterprise of LUKOIL Aero, violated the antimonopoly legislation, Interfax reports. According to the FAS’s press service, the enterprise violated the price-setting proceedings related to the service of filling airplanes with jet fuel. The Service says the filling station operating in Tyumen’s Roschino Airport included the expenses related to filling the planes in the price of the jet fuel, although there is a special rate for this service and it should be counted

Experts from Central Yekaterinburg Department of Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights agency) completed its inspection of Yekaterinburg-based IKEA-DOM located at 87 Metallurgov St, namely, of the Swedish food store, of non-grocery merchandise IKEA Yekaterinburg store, of Bistro café, of a speed-service store, and of an employee cafeteria. Some violations were detected in the course of the inspection. Following the inspection, seven people had to face administrative liability and pay thirteen fines altogether, with charges based on Articles 6.3., 6.6.,