October 28, 2014. Expert Ural magazine published its annual rating of the performance of 400 largest companies located in the Urals and Western Siberia (Expert Ural 400) in the year 2013. Bank Koltso Urala was among top 300 most influential businesses in the inter-industrial rating with its 239th position (based on the worth of services sold to customers – 5.58bn RUR). This is actually 43 rating positions higher than a year earlier, the bank’s press service says. In addition to this, Bank Koltso Urala was also given the 4th position among the top ten (and even the top five) banks in

October 27, 2014. As many as 4,500 employees of Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant in Nizhniy Tagil have been given flu vaccinations already. This year, the annual six-week vaccination campaign began earlier than usual, that is, on October 1, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘The plant’s medical unit purchased 15,000 Grippol+ flu shots, which is in full compliance with the recommendations given by Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog); this will be enough to get at least 40% of the plant’s staff vaccinated. This is the necessary minimum that will allow us to avoid

October 27, 2014. MegaFon was given the Leader of Customer-Oriented Business 2014 Prize (in the ‘Mobile Carriers’ category), the company’s press service reports. On October 23, 2014, the awarding ceremony for the customer-oriented business leaders took place within the framework of the Customer-Oriented Business Professionals Conference. The main idea behind the foundation of the prize is to single out and acknowledge the companies whose principles focus on improving customer service. This is truly a people’s prize: during the first stage of the contest, a phone survey was conducted among

October 27, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service carried the findings of their check of the wholesale prices set by manufacturers of some staple foods for the local supermarket chains. The price checks were conducted on October 2-8, 2014. For one, the price of pork (excluding boneless meat) fluctuated between -3.47% and +2%, the price of chicken (excluding leg quarters) changed within the -2.22% to +20.64% range, while that of frozen fish varied within the -12.07% to +16.25% range. The changes in the price of butter varied from -41.8% to +15.83%, those in the

October 27, 2014. Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev is going to chair a meeting on the launch of best available industrial technologies on the premises of Seversky Pipe Plant in Polevskoy, Sverdlovsk Region, on October 24. The meeting will also be attended by Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeniy Kuivashev. The Russian Government’s website states that the meeting participants are to talk about the industrial and environmental aspects of implementing these best available technologies and to consider the potential of introducing such technologies in the pipe manufacturing sector, for one.

October 27, 2014. Following a request from Public Prosecutor of Sverdlovsk Region Sergey Okhlopkov, a inspection of how labor protection legislation is complied with at local ore mining enterprises was organized, the press service for the prosecutor’s office reports. ‘The inspection will comprise an assessment of the efficiency of measures employers take to ensure safe working conditions in the mines,’ the press service says. Checks began after an accident occurred at Vysokogorsky Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise’s Magnetitovaya Mine. Where a worker was killed due to a rock fall. Police

October 24, 2014. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) underwent a recertification procedure for its quality management system successfully and thus proved the system’s full compliance with the ISO 9001:2008, ISO/TU 16949:2009, and STO Gazprom 9001:2012 standards, MMK reports. During the five-day audit procedure, teams of auditors from the international certification body TUV NORD CERT and from Paritet looked into how the QMS processes function that are targeted at production of high quality produce and at meeting the customers’ demands. The audit involved nearly all of MMK’s divisions

October 24, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation is going to provide public access to Technology of Wars (Technowars), an informational and analytical project. According to the corporation’s press service, Technowars was originally launched in 2012 as a members-only information digest for the corporation’s directorate for military and technological cooperation. The project keeps track of what is new among the world’s top hundred manufacturers of arms and military vehicles. The focus of analysis is on the new developments, technological and scientific research, the contracts landed by companies,

October 24, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court imposed a 50,000-ruble fine on McDonald’s outlet located at 8V Vosmoye Marta St in Yekaterinburg, the court’s press office informed UrBC. ‘The claim against the fast food chain was laid by Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog). The court is now processing two more claims against McDonald’s, both involving the outlet at 106 Chelyuskintsev St. The court hearings will be held on November 5 and 10,’ the press office says. Now Leninsky District Court of Yekaterinburg complied with Rospotrebnadzor’s

October 24, 2014. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) is presenting its produce at the 15th international exhibition called Customs Service 2014 at Expocenter in Moscow on October 22-23. The plant’s exhibits make part of Yekaterinburg Customs’ stand, ChTPZ Group’s press service says. The exhibition features samples of general-purpose hot-worked tubes of varying diameters as well as tubes for making couplings. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant exports its products to over twenty different countries. Its foreign partners keep buying hot- and cold-worked tubes, boiler tubes,

October 24, 2014. A worker was killed at Magnetitovaya Mine as a result of rock fall, Sverdlovsk Region Main Administration for the Ministry of Emergencies’ press service reports. The administration was informed of the rock fall at 9:40 AM (Moscow time) today. One person was killed because of this accident. According to the press service, a nine-people team from the federal firefighting service of Nizhniy Tagil, rescue men, and an ambulance crew arrived to work at the scene. Magnetitogaya iron ore mine used to be owned by Evraz Group; the mine belongs to NPRO Ural now.

October 24, 2014. Cheese prices rose by 20% to 46% in Ural Federal Distirct, Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Igor Kholmanskikh announced at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. Yet the official doesn’t believe the rest of the food prices will follow suit. ‘There aren’t any grounds for food prices to increase; an ad hoc committee is now active in every federal constituency that monitors prices of staple foods and commodities. I can confidently say that bread prices are looking good now. We did see an increase in cheese prices of 20% to

October 23, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region Trade Union Federation’s Labor Rights Inspection carried out a scheduled inspection of Kamensk-Uralsky Foundry Plant (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation). According to the corporation’s press service, the inspectors looked into whether the company’s social-labor relations comply with the Labor Code requirements. ‘The inspectors visited the production departments, the HR Department, the law office, the Labor Protection & Safety Regulations Department, and the Director-General’s office. They were interested in the keeping of employees’

October 23, 2014. Prices on Yekaterinburg existing homes market declined by 0.2% in the last two months, while real estate prices actually rose by 4.1% against the beginning of the year, Ural Chamber of Real Estate’s Analytical Center reports. As of October 20, the median price of a square meter of a home available for purchase in Yekaterinburg reached 75,740 RUR. The number of apartments in the Chamber’s database has gone up by 36% since early April: this comes to over 2,600 extra apartments. As a result, the existing homes market supply reached its six-year high: there are currently 10,000

October 23, 2014. The amount of wages owed by Sverdlovsk Region-based employers to their workers rose by nearly 4.7 times in January-September 2014 compared with January-September 2013, head of Sverdlovsk Region division of the Federal State Statistics Service Elena Kutina announced at a press conference. ‘This is the greatest figure among all of Ural Federal District’s constituencies. As for Russia on the whole, the increase in the arrears of wages came to 20.1% I’d like to stress that the median monthly pay in Sverdlovsk Region currently comes to 29,039 RUR, which is 7.6% more than at the

October 23, 2014. The number of vacancies available in Yekaterinburg declined by 6% in the third quarter of 2014 compared with the third quarter of 2013, HeadHunter Urals’ press service reports. ‘It should be noted that in other parts of the Urals, in Chelyabinsk and Perm, for example, the number of job openings actually went up by 25%and 31%, respectively. As for the number of CVs submitted by applicants, this increased by 28% in Q3’14 compared with a year earlier,’ the press service says. In the third quarter of the year, the demand for new workforce was the strongest in sales (27% of all

October 23, 2014. Russia is now No.1 on the list of countries most frequently suffering from hacking attacks through Trojans connected to m-banking services. According to the company’s experts, 91% of such hacking attempts are targeted against Russia-based users. In fact, the number of instances where mobile banking Trojans were involved rose by 14 times over the last twelve months. Besides, 64% of hacking attempts to do with SMS Trojans hit Russian users as well; what these Trojans do is send short fee-charging messages to premium numbers without the phone owner’s knowledge.

October 22, 2014. The 13th International Steel-Smelters Congress was held at Seversky Pipe Plant (STZ, a member enterprise of Pipe Metallurgical Company), the company’s press service reports. The forum was organized by Association of Steel-Smelters, an interregional NGO, and Pipe Metallurgical Company. STZ, one of the leading steel-smelting businesses, was chosen as the congress site for a reason. STZ workers carried out a full-scale reconstruction of the plant’s steel-smelting facilities and did a lot of scientific research. They were thus able to share their experience with the fellow

October 22, 2014. Consumer prices of goods and services in Sverdlovsk Region went up by 6.1% in September 2014 compared with December 2013. In contrast to this, the difference between prices in September 2013 and December 2012 was around 5.4%, Sverdlovskstat’s official data state. The overall increase in food item prices, including the price of alcohol produce, was more noticeable than that of a year earlier (8.9% against 4%). Food items, when looked at without the alcohol produce, became 8.7% more expensive, with most groceries affected. Milk and dairy products prices rose by 10.9% to 22.2%,

October 22, 2014. ChTZ Uraltrac (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) celebrated the 30th anniversary of the day the plant’s millionth tractor left the assembly line, Uralvagonzavod’s press service reports. ‘A special event dedicated to the anniversary was organized at the company museum. The evening was hosted by the museum workers and members of the plant’s Home Climate Club that unites some fifty families of the tank-making plant’s workers,’ the press service says. A long-service machine-builder and ChTZ Honored Worker, holder of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Nikolai