November 13, 2013. ChTPZ Group and SOT Plant are going to ship pipes and take-offs (diameter 820mm, wall width 12, 17, 19 mm made of K56 steel) to Transneft. The total volume of shipments of pipes made at Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant is more than 12,500,000kg, that of pipes made at SOT Plant is 293 units, the Group’s press service reports. All the take-offs and some of the pipes (about 2,000,000kg) meant for the third extension to the Zapolyarye Purpe oil pipeline are to be insulated with polyurethane coating with a protective layer at the new sections of Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant. The

November 13, 2013 Ural Airlines announce the launch of a special price offer on its Yekaterinburg-Tel Aviv-Yekaterinburg flight. The new, advantageous tariff is a part of the new tariff scheme that will mean passengers will be able to save a considerable amount of money when booking and to choose a convenient departure date, the airline’s press service reports. If you book six days before the flight, the round trip ticket from Yekaterinburg to Tel Aviv and back will cost you 13,600 RUR; if you book two months before the flight, the price will come to 17,990 RUR, and if you book 31 to 59 days

November 13, 2013. Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation (UVZ) and Semey Engineering from Kazakhstan signed a founding treaty on the creation of a joint venture that will offer O&M services for armored vehicles. The JV is to be called UVZ-Semey Engineering. The treaty was signed in the course of the 10th Interregional Russia-Kazakhstan Cooperation Forum that was attended by the two country’s presidents: Vladimir Putin and Nursultan Nazarbayev. Semey Engineering is actually Kazakhstan’s only company to deal in overhauls and upgrades of armored vehicles. UVZ was represented

November 13, 2013. While in Sverdlovsk Region, Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a visit to Ural Locomotives (a joint venture of Sinara Group and Siemens AG in Verkhnyaya Pyshma), where the production department for ES2G Lastochka trains was launched on that day, Sinara Group’s PR Department reports. Vladimir Putin, accompanied by Russia’s Industry & Trade Minister Denis Manturov, President of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin, Siemens AG BOD Chairman Joe Kaeser, and Sinara Group BOD Chairman Dmitri Pumpyanski, looked at the body production section, the carriage assembly section, and

November 12, 2013. Russian President Vladimir Putin opened the plenary session of the 10th Interregional Russia-Kazakhstan Cooperation Forum today. He said 76 Russian Federation constituencies were currently doing business with different territories in Kazakhstan. Over 200 cooperation agreements were signed, and the two countries’ bilateral trade turnover increased by 4 times in the last year. ‘Investments in Kazakh economy came to $1bn in the first half of 2013 alone, which is 40% more than a year earlier,’ Putin said. He said that the two countries needed to cooperate within the framework

November 12, 2013. 12,687 people found a job through Yekaterinburg Employment Center in January-October 2013, the center’s press service says. All in all, 20,351 people applied to the center over the given period, and 70,651 people placed their queries as to the current labor market situation. Also, 3,993 applicants wanted some job counseling. The share of people who found jobs over this period was 48.4% of applicants; as of November 1, 2013, 3,315 people are registered with the center as jobless. The city’s official unemployment rate is 0.45%. Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises submitted

November 12, 2013. Russian Copper Company is exhibiting its achievements at the 10th Interregional Russia-Kazakhstan Cooperation Forum and is presenting an innovative stand with visual displays of the company’s mining projects in Russia and Kazakhstan. The Russian Copper Company Group is one of Russia’s top three copper producers and has been investing actively in Kazakhstan. In 2004-2012, the investments on the company’s part amounted to over $500m. On the first day of the exhibition, RRC’s stand was visited by an official delegation consisting of Deputy Minister for Regional Development

November 12, 2013. Russian President Vladimir Putin promised at the All-Russian local governments conference that the personal income tax revenues into local budgets would be calculated for the next three years, Kommersant reports. The Mayor of Khabarovsk asked the President to instruct the Russian Government to set long-term norms and minimum figures for the tax revenues into municipal budgets, including the PIT. The President agreed that the tax revenues transferred into the local budgets by the federal constituencies should be more or less fixed and long-term, as this was the only way ‘to

November 12, 2013. Deutsche Bank AG awarded SKB-Bank for the great quality of handling foreign currency payments. In 2012, 97.4% of payments SKB-Bank took through Deutsche Bank did not need any additional processing, the bank’s press service reports. ‘Reducing payment transaction expenses and improved service are becoming increasingly important in today’s competitive environment. Deutsche Bank values its long-term relationship with SKB-Bank greatly and hopes for ongoing cooperation,’ the letter accompanying the award states. In fact, quite a few foreign correspondent banks point to the

In the National Unity Day (the 4th of November) in Krasnoufimsk Palace of Culture the first Open Regional Festival of folk Tatar Art «Traditions and customs of the Tatar people» was hold. The choice of this date was not occasional. The organizers wanted to underline that the national unity of Russia — is not only about nationalistic Russian Marches. This is a great celebration for all the citizens, no matter which nationalities they belong to. The revival of the folk art itself with concerts made by non-professional artists, with competitions between creative groups — is a worthy social

November 11, 2013. The German air carrier Lufthansa is going to stop operating direct flights from Yekaterinburg to Frankfurt. The airline’s decision had to do with the need to reduce its outgoings. Koltsovo Airport of Yekaterinburg hopes to keep this destination available and says they are already negotiating with five air carriers. Koltsovo Airport’s press secretary Dmitri Tyukhtin confirmed the airline’s decision to stop operating flights. He says the current economic situation in Europe makes it necessary for the air carrier to cut down on expenses, and a five-hour flight from

November 11, 2013. Timofey Radya, a street artist from Yekaterinburg, was put on Forbes Russia’s most promising young artists list. He is probably best known for his Stability, an installation that consists of a throne on top of a mound of police officers’ shields. ‘My works live from a few hours to a few years. It does not hurt me, though, to see them disappear, I actually like it in a way. In the end, all works by all artists will vanish at some point. Well, I get to see this for myself,’ Forbes quotes Radya as saying. The list compilers note that the main idea behind this project is to

November 11, 2013. VUZ-Bank and Life Financial Group are planning on coordinating regular meetings of the Forex Traders Club called Life Capital. All sorts of traders are welcome to these meetings, the bank’s press service reports. The traders club is expected to get together Forex players who are keen on trading, would like to improve their professional skills in this respect, and are interested in a stable income. Traders, especially beginners, are badly in need of hints and often incur losses just because they cannot stay in control of the situation. Meeting other market players and

November 11, 2013. Ural Airlines are announcing the launch of a special price offer on the tickets for Yekaterinburg-Beijing flight. The company’s press officer says that one can now pay only from ?339 and up to travel from the Urals’ capital to Beijing. The round trip price offer stands for flights operated between December 10 and December 24, 2013, and between January 9 and January 23, 2014. The fees and charges are not included, and this is actually a limited offer. All of Ural Airlines’ flights are operated using the comfortable Airbus 320 airliners that have both the economy and the

November 11, 2013. Head of Yekaterinburg Administration Alexander Yakob confirmed the city council’s Electronic Yekaterinburg Program for 2014-2016, the administration’s press service reports. The program is aimed at enhancing the efficiency of local governments through creation and development of an information and technological infrastructure and use of up-to-date information and telecommunication technologies. Under this program, the number of electronic public services offered by local governments is expected to reach 27 by 2016. By then, every one in five Yekaterinburg residents is

November 8, 2013. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, a member of Uralvagonzavod Corporation, will deliver 16 swamp tractors for the expeditions undertaken by Khanty-Mansiysk Geophysics, a daughter company of GeoTech Holding, Uralvagonzavod Corporation's press service says. These are mass-produced tractors with the traditional 'cold-weather package', that is, double glazing of the pit, Zenith radiator, an extra insulated case for the tractor bonnet, and Webasto starting pre-heater. As the tractors will be used for the surveying of mineral resource deposits, the customers will have

November 8, 2013. ChTPZ Group is once again taking part in the best video contest called Metal Vision 2013; the contest is held among Russia and the CIS' metallurgical sector enterprises and is usually a part of the Metal Expo exhibition. This year, ChTPZ Group is going to show a documentary dedicated to Fedor A. Danilov, who ran the team of Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant for thirty years, in 1954-1984. ChTPZ Group filmed people who personally knew Danilov quite well, and the video features the most important episodes of his life. The premiere showing will take place on the day that

November 8, 2013. Russia's Nature Ministry and Rosnedra coordinated it with Mednogorsky Copper & Sulfur Works (MMSK), a member enterprise of Ural Mining & Metallurgical Company, that the launch of Yelanskoye and Yelkinskoye nickel deposits in Voronezh Region should be postponed, Kommersant refers to its own sources in the Russian Government as saying. The newspaper says that MMSK applied to Rosnedra, asking to shift the date of the launch, as protests against the nickel development in the area actually jeopardize the company's meeting the licensing requirements. Rosnedra

November 8, 2013. The last open-hearth furnace was shut down at Taganrog Metallurgical Plant (a member enterprise of Pipe Metallurgical Company, TMK), the company's press service reports. Giving up on this obsolete production method was made possible due to the fact that TMK is now implementing a large-scale investment program on technical upgrades at its enterprises, including the plant in Taganrog. The program has already resulted in both economic and environmental yields. The implementation of the investment program has meant all the open-hearth furnaces, which were the main source of

November 8, 2013. Uralvagonzavod, the head plant of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation, fulfilled the government defense order for 2013 ahead of schedule. All the contractual obligations toward the Defense Ministry relating to the delivery of special vehicles were fulfilled as early as the end of October. All the obligations relating to supplying spare parts and components to the corporation's enterprises have been met as well. In November and December 2013, items will be delivered for the year 2014 already, Uralvagonzavod Corporation's press service reports. The