December 12, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region is now again on the list of federal constituencies that will receive no budget subsidies to help with their expenses in 2015: an order to this extent was signed by Russia’s Finance Minister Anton Siluyanov and published on the ministry’s website. There are 14 constituencies on the list altogether, including Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region, Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Region, Tatarstan, and some others. All of these were declared donor constituencies not entitled to any subsidies. This is the first time in five years that

December 13, 2014. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Deputy DG Sergey Laskov and MMK Scientific & Technological Center Chief Manager for Steel-Smelting Oleg Nikolayev were awarded the Russian Federation Government Science & Engineering Prize for development and production of high quality, economically efficient automobile body sheets and for enhancing the Russian metal goods’ competitiveness on the global market, MMK reports. The team of automobile body sheet designers also comprised representatives of other metallurgical companies, carmakers, and I.P. Bardin Central

December 11, 2014. Titan, a 110/10 kilowatt power substation, was launched at Titanium Valley, a special economic zone in Verkhnyaya Salda, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. The new power source is going to be the key electric power provider for the future industrial facilities in the zone. The substation was completed by employees of Sverdlovenergo as part of the innovative cluster development program. The launch of Titan means the company has meat all of its obligations relating to connecting the industrial site to power grids in full.

December 11, 2014. There is an average of 110,000 RUR worth of loans per capita in Sverdlovsk Region, the local human rights ombudsperson Tatiana Merzlyakova said at a press conference. ‘The Mid-Urals’ residents have been borrowing on an enormous scale: there is an average of 110,000 RUR worth of loans per resident at the moment. In fact, this figure does even account for some of the micro-financing organizations, which haven’t been reporting to the state. The actual figure is thus even higher,’ she said. According to Merzlyakova, the increase in the amount of loans resulted in a dramatic

December 11, 2014. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) successfully tested its new 18G1FA steel: this new variety is meant for making hot-worked, cold-resistant oil and natural gas pipes that can meet Rosneft’s standards, the plant’s press service reports. The pipe ingots were cast at the plant’s own electric steel-smelting Iron Ozone 32 unit. ‘This 18G1FA steel pertains to low-alloy steels. The plant uses it to make two kinds of pipes whose strength grade depends on the specific operating conditions they will have to withstand. Following the rolling and the

December 11, 2014. Russia Arms Expo 2013, sponsored by Uralvagonzavod Corporation, won the Event of the Year Prize as B2B Event: the prize is awarded to the best business event for a company’s partners from adjacent sectors of industry. According to the corporation’s press service, the weight of a particular event is assessed against the following criteria: flawless organization, attention to detail, a busy agenda, and the participants’ feedback. The Event of the Year’s judges’ panel comprises representatives of major customer companies, respected cultural and political personalities, media

December 11, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation allocated around 5m RUR to repairing the gym at Volchansk School 23, since the corporation’s head plant’s Volchansk subsidiary has been the school sponsor for some years now. The gym was fully rebuilt in three and a half months: the place now has new floors, new heating, lighting, and ventilation equipment, modern windows, freshly painted walls, remodeled locker rooms, showers, and restrooms. Besides, new sports equipment was bought, including basketball backboards and balls,’ the corporation says. According to Mayor of Volchansk Alexander

December 10, 2014. On behalf of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, head of ASI Young Professionals Dmitri Peskov thanked ChTPZ Group DG Vitaly Sadykov for the enterprise’s active involvement in WorldSkills Hi Tech, a national blue-collar jobs championship, Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant’s press service reports. ‘Let us congratulate the contestants and experts who represented your company at the competition. We are also grateful to the HR Department for joining the event’s business agenda and exhibition,’ the thank-you letter says. Peskov pointed out industrial enterprises would become more

December 10, 2014. In the nine months of 2014, Sverdlovsk Region-based insurers collected a total of 15.15bn RUR. This was 2.6% less than in the nine months of 2013, SOGAZ Insurance Group’s press service reports. At the same time, the Russian Central Bank’s insurance analysts state the insurance payouts rose to a total of 8.58bn RUR, which was 17.7% more than a year earlier. The accident insurance niche shrank considerably down to 1.75bn RUR (- 32.6% on a year earlier), which was not a typical trend for most other parts of Russia: in the country on the whole, accident insurance premiums

December 10, 2014. Plant 9 (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation) upgraded two of its loading bridges, which made it possible for the operators not to climb all the way up, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘These heavy lifting devices will now be radio-controlled. A radio control works in much the same way as a ground cable control. An operator makes the device move by pressing a few buttons on the remote control; they can also adjust the speed of movements as well as the speed of lifting weights. The signal zone comes to over 100m. These

December 10, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region Government adopted a draft provision on the minimum wage in the first quarter of 2015. ‘The draft provision under consideration was drawn up in accordance with the local Acts 15 OZ adopted on January 4, 1995 and 47 OZ adopted on May 24, 2013 and is based on a methodology approved by the Russian Federation Government,’ says Sverdlovsk Region Economics Minister Dmitri Nozhenko. He explained the living wage in Sverdlovsk Region would amount to 8,025 RUR a month in the first quarter of 2015 (8,568 RUR a month for a working-age resident, 6,622 RUR for a

December 10, 2014. The number of Sverdlovsk Region residents applying for a certificate of title decreased by 5% in eleven months of 2014 compared with a year earlier, Rosreyestr’s local division reports. At the same time, the number of mortgage interests applications rose by 11% compared with January-November 2013. Increasingly more people apply for United State Property Register statements: this year, the figure was up 65% on last year. Rosreyestr’s experts believe this has to do with the viability of their online service and with enabled exterritorial enquiries.

December 9, 2014. Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeniy Kuivashev requested the local officials to look into the possibility of offering residents of the Mid-Urals-based industrial parks a tax holiday, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. Kuivashev’s proposal will be taken into account during the drafting of the local legislation on special economic zones. These preferential terms will be offered to Bogoslovsky Industrial Park as soon as next year, as Krasnoturyinsk Duma is planning to offer the park’s residents a break from land tax till the year 2020. The

December 9, 2014. ChTZ Uraltrac (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) is going to deliver two swamp tractors T10MB to Ufa, Bashkiria, by order of a large construction company, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘These are serially produced swamp tractors with mechanical transmission, which are, however, special in that there is space provided at the rear to attach a post driver: this will be completed by our partner in Bashkiria. The vehicles will be used for ground improvement at construction sites. The two tractors are now being prepared for shipment at the delivery

December 9, 2014. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s Board of Directors decided to go through with a bond issue. The bank expects to issue BO 10, BO 11, BO 12, and BO 13 series exchange-traded bond with the total face value of 10bn RUR, the UBRD’s press service reports. The bond issues will all go into circulation in 2015. BO 10 and BO 11 bond issues will amount to 2bn RUR each, whereas BO 12 and BO 13 bond issues will amount to 3bn RUR each. The face value per bond comes to 1,000 RUR. The said bond issues will be special in that coupon payments will be made on a quarterly

December 9, 2014. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) designed and developed a new kind of 88.9x5.49mm pumping and compression pumps with ChT-VT first-generation premium threaded joints, the enterprise’s press service reports. The product is meant for steam injectors that have to handle extremely high temperature (over 300 degrees centigrade); these pipes are expected to make extraction of high-viscosity oil easier. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant’s experts’ computer-aided strength calculation has already proved that pipes with ChT-VT threaded joints can be used at

December 9, 2014. Avialeasing Investment & Finance Company laid a claim against UTair Airlines, demanding that the air carrier be declared bankrupt. The investment company’s claim was registered with Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous District Arbitration Court today. The arbitration court is currently processing several claims relating to UTair’s unpaid debts. For one, Alfa Bank insists on being repaid 11.8m RUR and BFA Bank demands its 603.5m RUR back as well.

December 8, 2014. Yekaterinburg came 11th in the rating of Russia’s most prosperous cities that was created by the Sekret Firmy magazine. The magazine’s analysts looked into the weighted average cost of a car and of an apartment (per square meter) based on online ads on Avito in 155 Russian cities with the population of over 100,000 people. The analysts processed ads posted online at the end of the first, second, and third quarter of the year 2014. In Yekaterinburg, the average price of a square meter of housing stands at 75,000 RUR, that of an automobile at 230,000 RUR. In Moscow (the

December 8, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation presented its multi-purpose vehicle TM2 at Russia’s Transport, an international forum and exhibition in Moscow, the corporation’s press service reports. A presentation on the advantages of this all-purpose, wheel/track-mounted vehicle for relocation of railway carriages around the premises of industrial enterprises and repair depots was made for Russian Vice Premier Dmitri Rogozin by Uralvagonzavod’s Director-General Oleg Sienko. He said, for one, that today’s TMV2 was a serially produced vehicle that was part of the import replacement program for

December 8, 2014. Yekaterinburg Fine Arts Museum is going to re-create the office occupied by the Hermitage Museum employees during the war evacuation period. The city council says the local authorities are quite interested in having a culture/education center called the Hermitage-Urals here. ‘This project will be financially difficult to implement. Nevertheless, thanks to the city council and the fine arts museum’s efforts, a reconstruction of the building will begin, and additional space will be provided for museum depositories,’ the city council’s press service says. Head of Yekaterinburg