August 14, 2014. The central heating supply network in the area is being prepared for winter in full accordance with the set programs and schedules, Sverdlovsk Region Deputy Minister for Energy & Utilities Igor Chikrizov says. According to the official, in order to prepare the local facilities for the upcoming heating season, the Mid-Urals’ heat energy producers and their subsidiaries are carrying out repairs and set up material and technical resource reserves. Fuel funds the local electric power stations have formed are already bigger than the target amounts. ‘Wintertime preparations are

August 14, 2014. The volume of mortgage debts (considering only the mortgages issued in rubles) rose by 15% (up to 2.921 trillion RUR) by July 1, 2014 compared with the end of 2013, the Central Bank of Russia’s website states. This figure is also 35% larger than the one for July 1, 2013 (2.154 trillion RUR). At the same time, the volume of overdue mortgage debts came to 26.326bn RUR on July 1, 2014, which exceeded the figures for January 1, 2014 (25.443bn RUR) by 3.5% and fell short of the figures for July 1, 2013 by 1.6%. On June 1, 2014, the figure stood at 26.354bn RUR.

August 14, 2014. The number of court claims relating to unpaid housing bills that get placed with Sverdlovsk Region courts rose by 35% in the first half of 2014 compared with the first half of 2013, judge of Sverdlovsk Region Court Yuri Moskalenko said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. Moskalenko explained over 20,500 such claims were processed by courts in the first six months of 2013, whereas this year, this figure stands at more than 27,800 claims. ‘All in all, 317m RUR were collected on judgments in the first half of 2013; this year, the figure comes to 540m RUR, which is 70% more.

August 13, 2014. Yekaterinburg Council set up an investment coordination committee chaired by Alexander Yakob. The council’s press service says the new institution is to provide expert advice. The main idea behind the committee is to improve the ways in which the city is trying to reach its socioeconomic development target figures and also to improve the quality of municipal services. Among the committee’s key tasks are: dealing with issues related to enhancement of Yekaterinburg’s investment appeal; implementation of investment projects targeted at the development of social, transport, and

August 13, 2014. Member enterprises of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation collected humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugees. According to the corporation’s press service, the employees of the corporation’s head plant in Nizhniy Tagil kept bringing in warm clothing and footwear for children and adults, toys, books, and stationery and writing supplies in the course of one week. ‘We managed to collect over sixty large packages with the necessary things. A GAZel truck delivered all this humanitarian aid to the Red Cross division in Nizhniy Tagil. From then, it will be

August 13, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises coordinated customs clearance of 33,000,000 kg of imported agricultural produce in January-July 2014, Deputy Head of Customs Administration Alexei Yagovitin said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg today. According to Yagovitin, food sanctions only affected 13,000,000 kg of foods declared at the customers since the beginning of 2014. ‘These are small amounts of meat and cheeses and 9,000,000 kg of apples,’ the official said. Sverdlovsk Region Food & Agriculture Ministry, in its turn, promised to replace the missing foods with the

August 13, 2014. According to Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Tax Service, the number of organizations and sole traders who are undergoing various procedures relating to bankruptcy has gone up by 6% by the end of the first half of the year compared with the beginning of the year and came to 940 debtors. According to the division’s press service, the number of insolvency claims laid with arbitration court by the authorized government body rose by 2.5 times over the given period. In January-June 2014, forty claims were directed to arbitration court, thirty-three have already

August 13, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation is going to present its developments at an international forum Machine-Building Technologies 2014 that will take off in Zhukovsky, Moscow Region, on August 13. ‘The corporation’s Director-General Oleg Sienko is expected to take part in the forum’s business agenda. What is more, Uralvagonzavod Corporation is to present a whole range of promising developments from the member enterprises of the special vehicles division,’ the corporation’s press service reports. Military goods will be displayed in the form of both models and

August 12, 2014. Russian Vice Premier and Chair of the Military-Industrial Committee Dmitri Rogozin got acquainted with the measures Burevestnik Scientific Research Institute (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) intends to take in order to enhance its innovative potential during his business trip to Nizhniy Novgorod on August 8. According to the corporation’s press service, during his visit to Burevestnik, Rogozin looked at samples of arms and military vehicles that were developed and are now produced by the enterprise on an industrial scale. He also got acquainted with the

August 12, 2014. SME Bank prepared an investment appeal index for Russian Federation constituencies in 2014. Fourteen constituencies were among the leaders (Rating A), twenty-one territories were in Rating B, including Sverdlovsk Region. The constituency was given a very low grade for Production Factors and the top grade for Demand and Competitive Environment. The ‘average’ group (Rating C) proved the biggest and comprised thirty Russian Federation constituencies. Fifteen territories were in Rating D for the ‘lagging behind’ and three constituencies were in Rating E as obvious outsiders.

August 12, 2014. According to the forecast provided by Ural Chamber of Real Estate, sales might drop by 10% by the end of 2014. These data are provided in the report by head of the Chamber’s Analytical Department Mikhail Khorkov. The report also states that competition might grow more intense on the new and existing homes market, while the customer activity might be on the decrease. Given that the demand has not been growing lately, whereas sales have been on the rise, prices might change again in the future. It is also expected that new real estate market segments will emerge and develop,

August 12, 2014. Uralmashzavod Board of Directors decided to re-elect Ian Tsenter as the BOD Chairman of the plant, the issuer’s official report says. First Vice President of Gazprombank, Ian Tsenter was elected for the position in December 2013 after Igor Molibog’s authority was terminated. It was at the same time when Andrei Saltanov resigned as the plant’s Director-General and was succeeded by Executive Director of Izhorskiye Zavody (a member enterprise of United Machine-Building Corporation) Alexander Sharapov. Following the BOD’s decision, a provision on Uralmashzavod’s

August 12, 2104. Ural Airlines flew 2,829,338 passengers between January 1 and July 31, 2014, which was 18% moiré than in the seven months of 2013, the airline’s press service reports. In the seven months of 2014, Ural Airlines operated 22,432 flights, including 7,344 international flights, 10,356 domestic flights, and 4,372 flights around the CIS. This was 20% more than a year earlier. The air carrier’s passenger turnover rose by 16% since the beginning of the year compared with 2013 and came to 7,395,313,000 passenger-kilometers. 603,550 passengers flew with the company in July 2014, which

August 11, 2014. Uralvagonzavod, the head plant of Uralvagonzavod Corporation, launched an upgrade of its heat and power station. The idea is to reduce energy spending by 20%. This upgrade is expected to be completed within three years; the project will cost 9bn RUR to implement, the corporation’s press service reports. The upgrade of this power facility includes the reconstruction of power-generating units and grids, installation and launch of a new air-nitrogen plant, and, as a result, enhanced energy efficiency of all the production facilities. The enterprise means to create a single power

August 11, 2014. ChTZ-Uraltrac (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) shipped five B10MB swamp bulldozers to the Arctic. The machines were sent by railway first to the port of Murmansk; from there, they will be delivered by Northern Sea Route to the New Siberian Islands, the corporation’s press service reports. Head of the company’s Ural-Siberian Sales Department Artem Yezhkov says this is the second set of bulldozers shipped to the Arctic this year. Nine B10M tractors were delivered to the New Siberian Islands in April. Now the regular tractors will be complemented by the swamp

August 11, 2014. IKEA Russia is prepared to look for alternative solutions that will help to keep its grocery stores attractive to customers despite new food regulations. The company press service informed UrBC that they are currently looking into the list of agricultural produce, raw materials, and foods that can no longer be imported to Russia in order to determine how these economic measures can affect their range of products. ‘We’ll look for some alternative solutions if necessary, which will allow us to keep making appealing offers to our IKEA Restaurant, IKEA Bistro, and IKEA Foods

August 11, 2014. A group of delegates from Sverdlovsk Region are going to take part in the 13th International Investment Forum Sochi 2014 on September 18-21. According to the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department, the theme of the Mid-Urals stand and the local projects to be presented were discussed in the course of a recent meeting chaired by Sverdlovsk Region Vice Premier Alexei Orlov. According to Orlov, the focus should be on the import-replacement projects. ‘It was decided that the best samples of Ural produce presented at Innoprom should be seen as the products

August 11, 2014. The state debt of Sverdlovsk Region decreased from 34.8bn RUR down to 33bn RUR at the beginning of August, Sverdlovsk Region Finance Ministry’s press service reports. ‘In order to reach a more viable budget picture, the ministry took our short-term loans from both the federal budget funds and the existing credit lines during the seven months of 2014. So, despite the difficulties with the revenues coming into the constituency’s budget and thanks to the well-balanced fiscal and budget policy, we managed to pay off the loans and meet Sverdlovsk Region’s liabilities,’ the Finance

August 8, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant rounded up the final stage of its professional skills contest Best in One’s Profession Q’2 14. The plant coordinated 66 skills contests in the second quarter altogether, with 554 employees taking part. Over 150 workers acted as the coordination committee members and contest judges, Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s press service reports. These 66 skills contests included 58 departmental ones, 6 production line ones, and one all-plant one. There were 208 winners all in all. The prize fund for the workers who proved

August 8, 2014. The next year’s Innoprom 2015 Exhibition might be dedicated to production efficiency, Sverdlovsk Region Vice Premier Alexei Orlov said during his meeting with Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeniy Kuivashev. According to Orlov, this was one of the issues discussed at a meeting chaired by Russia’s Deputy Industry & Science Minister Georgiy Kalamanov. ‘The Russian Federation Industry & Science Ministry is currently clarifying all the details of Innoprom 2015 and is checking the way our Chinese partners are planning to take part in the event in. China is expected to join