The builders working on the international exhibition center Yekaterinburg EXPO are going to hold a picket today and to insist on getting paid, a representative of the initiative group and the director of one of the developing companies Alexei Sadovsky told UrBC. The developers that were involved in the construction of the exhibition center have been unable to get the money for their work from the region’s authorities for a year now. The picket will start in Oktyabrskaya Square next to the Government Building at 3:00 PM. ‘We are going to remind the public of our problem. We’ll enter the square

Sverdlovsk Region Court pronounced the verdict of guilty upon Alexander Gniteyev; the man was found guilty of state treason through espionage (Article 275 of Russia’s Criminal Code). Gniteyev was sentenced to eight years in a strict-regime penitentiary establishment, a 100,000-RUR fine, and one year of supervised release when he cannot change his place of residence or leave the town where he resides without the permission of an authorized state body; he’ll also have to visit the said state body two times a month. This judgment can be appealed from under cassational procedure. R30 3M30 Bulava

The lead managers of Facebook’s IPO are going to consider the bids for purchasing a stake in the world’s largest social network. BCS and Finam, who processed the bids, told Kommersant that the Ural investors had submitted several scores of them. For one, eighteen applications have been submitted by 25 people at BrokerCreditService’s Yekaterinburg office. ‘Some of our customers consolidated their funds into one bid. The bids come to $70,000 on average, but we have some rather large-scale investors as well, with bids amounting to $500,000 and more,’ says the director of BCS Yekaterinburg branch

The iPad version of HAPPY Fashion Culture Magazine Russia had to be halted due to lack of advertising accounts and the product’s high cost. ‘This product is expensive to make and the magazine’s audience is quite unevenly distributed, so it’s hard to find accounts, and there are not too many iPad users in Yekaterinburg, after all. This is why we are questioning the future of this project and have to stop working on it because of all the difficulties,’ the magazine’s editors told UrBC. HAPPY Fashion Culture Magazine Russia for iPads was launched in October 2010 and iPad owners could then

The fact that the curator of the international exhibition Innoprom Mikhail Maksimov has left Sverdlovsk Region Government is not going to affect the exhibition performance in any way whatsoever, President of Formica Management Company (the exhibition coordinator) Maxim Zverkov told UrBC. Now Sverdlovsk Region’s Investment & Development Minister Mikhail Maksimov left the region: he was appointed First Deputy Head of Mayor of Moscow Administration & Government. ‘This is not the first year the exhibition has been held. This is why we have very few difficult issues to work with. The last

The project on world fair EXPO 2020 in Yekaterinburg is estimated to require about $10bn, RIA Novosti quotes Director of EXPO 2020 Application Committee Eric Bugulov as saying. ’50% is expected to be provided by the state, while the remaining half is to be contributed by businesses,’ Bugulov said at the business forum The Future of The City. He explained most of the money ($7bn) would be directed to the creation of the infrastructure in Yekaterinburg: transport, parking lots, the underground, and other facilities. The decision on where to hold the world fair will be voted for at the BIE

The net profit of X5 Retail Group, Russia’s largest retail company (in terms of sales), went down by 31.6% in January-March 2012 compared with a year earlier. The figures were calculated in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards and came to $66.6m, the company reports. The retailer made $96.9m RUR in terms of net profit in the first three months of 2011. The Group runs Perekrestok and Carousel supermarkets in Yekaterinburg.

Adobe Systems announced the results of its activity in the field of copyright protection in Sverdlovsk Region. In 2011, thirty-two criminal suits relating to the use of unlicensed Adobe products were supported by the company in Sverdlovsk Region altogether, which exceeded the figures for 2010 (20 suits) by a third. In Ural Federal District on the whole, 58 suits were instituted last year, which came to 5% of all the criminal proceedings instituted in Russia in 2011. All in all, Adobe Systems supported 1,073 criminal lawsuits, which was over 50% more than in 2010 (681 suits). The majority of

One cannot safely swim or fish in the pond next to the Ramada Hotel in Koltsovsky Tract, Chair of Yekaterinburg Council Urban Development Committee Tamara Blagodatkova warns. However, the hotel still positions the pond as its competitive advantage and hosts wakeboard and water skiing competitions there. ‘A nearly two-hectare waste landfill is located in the nearby forest to the left of the pond. In the winter, the communal housing and utilities services of Oktyabrsky District relocate the snow from the city streets there. There is no question of this snow being clean: it contains pieces of

Ural Chemical Machine-Building Plant (Uralkhimmash) made 244.27m RUR worth of net loss (calculated in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards) in January-March 2012, which was 3.3 times more than in the first quarter of 2011, the company’s quarterly report states. At the same time, the company’s revenues rose by 3.6 times and came to 1.16bn RUR, Interfax-Ural reports.

Mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin appointed a new First Deputy Head of Mayor of Moscow Administration & Government, Interfax was informed by a source in the city council. According to this informant, the contract with Mikhail Maksimov will be valid throughout Sobyanin’s entire term as Mayor. Former First Deputy Head of Mayor of Moscow Administration & Government Maxim Reshetnikov was appointed Head of Moscow’s Economic Policies & Development Department earlier, the agency says.

Urals Power Engineering Center made 1.77bn RUR worth of net profit in January-March 2012, which fell short of the figures for a year earlier by 17.3%, the company’s reports state. The enterprise’s revenues increased by 13% and amounted to 350.82m RUR over the same period, Interfax-Ural reports.

Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service considered the petition placed by OAO Development Corporation (based in Yekaterinburg and dealing in the management of financial/industrial groups) regarding the acquisition of a 54.73184793% stake in Polar Quartz (bases in Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region Yugra and dealing in production and processing of quartz). Having considered Article 33 (part 2, paragraph 1) of the Competition Protection Act, the FAS decided to let the applicant go through with the purchase.

In the first quarter of 2012, the revenues of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation coming from the production and sales of special purpose machines and vehicles dropped by 43.7% against a year earlier, that is, from 2.37bn RUR down to 1.34bn RUR. This information is available in the company’s quarterly report uploaded on the enterprise’s website. ‘The decrease in revenues had to do with lack of shipments under the government contract,’ the report states.

The Production Management portal carried the annual rating called Russia’s Industrial Elite: 100 Best Production Managers 2012. The rating is primarily aimed at selecting, with the help of reputed experts, the most successful industrial sector managers who made a significant contribution to the development of their companies, their branch of industry, and the country’s economy on the whole. The rating was based on ‘the best choose the best’ principle. Over 500 respected managers from well-known companies acted as experts and offered their opinion on who they think are the best production

‘The work-related diseases situation in Sverdlovsk Region is not getting any better. What is more, the statistics for illnesses not directly related to one’s professional activity look dramatically worse. There are virtually no healthy people in the production process at the moment. We run special programs for children and retired workers, but no one takes care of those who produce the gross national product,’ head of Labor Surveillance Department of Rospotrebnadzor’s (the state consumer rights watchdog) Sverdlovsk Region division Vadim Ruzakov told Oblastnaya Gazeta. According to Ruzakov,

Yaroslav Zhdan, the Director-General of Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (ChTPZ), was featured in the rating called Russia’s Industrial Elite – 100 Best Production Managers 2012. The rating is the Production Management portal’s initiative and is aimed at presenting the most successful industrial managers who have made a significant contribution to the development of their enterprises, their branch of industry, and Russia’s economy. The rating is based on the opinions given by over 500 reputed representatives of well-known businesses. The experts’ verdicts were based on such criteria as the

Uralvagonzavod Scientific Production Corporation’s total debts come to 25.84bn RUR, including 3.82bn RUR worth of overdue debts. This information is available from the company’s report for the first quarter of 2012 uploaded on the plant’s website. The debt to the state budget and the state-run non-budgetary funds comes to 244.98m RUR. ‘The debt repayments to suppliers and contractors are overdue as well. The reason for this nonpayment is mainly the fact that the contractors do not ask for the money,’ the report states.

Ural Airlines has once again become the laureate of the Russian Wings Prize, the air carrier’s press service reports. The annual awarding ceremony for the Russian air industry players took place in Moscow on May 14. This year, forty-eight Russian air carriers have been nominated for the title of Airline of the Year. This includes nearly all of the country’s aviation companies such as the major air carriers, regional-scale airlines, business flights operators, specialized freight forwarders, helicopter operators, and tour operators.

The teams participating in the world football championship of 2018 in Yekaterinburg could stay in the Novotel and the Moskovskaya Gorka hotels. This suggestion was made during the FIFA committee and the cup coordination committee’s recent visit to the city, Uralsky Rabochy says. Yekaterinburg was the 5th Russian city on the committee’s route. The delegation is responsible for drawing up a report on the thirteen candidate cities’ potential to host the World Cup 2018 games. The officials and other VIPs are expected to stay at the Hyatt and the Atrium Palace Hotel.