February 17, 2015. Ural Airlines is launching a special offer on its Yekaterinburg-Tel Aviv flights: a round trip can now be booked for €129; the tickets are already available for purchase. Special rates hold for flights to be operated between March 18 and May13, 2015 (excluding airport fees and airline charges). The airline reduced the fuel fee for this flight by €36 (one-way trip) and €72 (round trip). Ural Airlines will operate direct flights from Yekaterinburg to Tel Aviv every Wednesday starting March 18, 2015. The flight will be performed on Airbus liners that have both economy and

February 17, 2015. Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (pipe-making member enterprises of ChTPZ Group) supplied 2,073,000,000 kg of pipe products to their customers in 2014, which was 395,000,000 kg (23.6%) more than in 2013, the Group’s press service reports. This increase has to do with more shipments on large-diameter pipes onto the home market and more shipments of OCTGs onto the CIS markets. The pipe manufacturing enterprises delivered 1,038,000,000 kg of welded pipes to their customers in the twelve months of 2014; this was 38% more than a year earlier. The

February 16, 2015. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ-Uraltrac, a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) is going to sell its customers two unusually colored 2B10M bulldozers. The company has produced green, grey, blue, and even red vehicles before. These two are going to be entirely dull black, with only the plant’s logo at the front and the model’s details on the cabin visible. This kind of coating was originally meant for an exhibition, yet the demand for the vehicles is so high that the customers agreed to get the black bulldozers now instead of waiting for some differently colored

February 16, 2015. A criminal lawsuit involving Valentina Rossomagina, a manager from Hoff (a supermarket), will be heard at Yekaterinburg Verkh-Isetsky District court on February 16. The woman is charged with negligent homicide (Article 190 (part 2) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code). According to Sverdlovsk Region Court’s press service, a cupboard collapsed on a three-year-old child, who later died in hospital as a result of the injury. As it turned out, the cupboard had not been fixed to the wall.

February 16, 2015. Orenburg Airlines (a member enterprise of Aeroflot) backed out of its decision to operate flights from Yekaterinburg to London (UK), New York (USA), and Toronto (Canada), RIA Novosti refers to Rosaviation as saying. The air carrier no longer offers 24 flights altogether, including those from Moscow to Miami, Liège, and Varadero, and from Saint Petersburg to Cancun. It was announced earlier that UTair also decided not to operate any flights from Yekaterinburg to Sanya (China).

February 16, 2015. 1,008 Sverdlovsk Region-based companies and sole traders were at different stages of bankruptcy proceedings at the start of the year; this was 12% more than in early 2014, Sverdlovsk Region division of the Federal Tax Service reports. 817 businesses are now involved in insolvency suits and are run by trustees in bankruptcy; this number makes up 81% of all the bankruptcy cases. 180 companies and sole traders (18%) are under observation procedures, one business is undergoing a financial recovery procedure, and ten companies (1%) have been subjected to trusteeship. 95

February 16, 2014. Over 750,000 Sverdlovsk Region residents received their property ownership certificates last year, while the number of mortgage deals rose by 12%, Rosreyestr’s press service reports. Nearly 900,000 citizens applied for the certificates, and the number of those who decided to get their cadastral registration along with the ownership certificate went up by 22%. Most of the applicants are private individuals; 40% of property ownership certificates are based on a purchase and sale agreement and 11% are based on the dwellers’ privatization rights.

February 13, 2015. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) is planning to retain its current production output during the next decade and therefore make some 12,000,000,000 kg of metal goods at its primary production site in Magnitogorsk. To ensure maximum output, MMK will focus on efficiency, the company’s Business Development & Management Director Maxim Lapin said at an Adam Smith Conferences media event dedicated to the CIS and Russia’s metallurgical and mining industry. ‘MMK strategy for the following decade is making sure its head plant in Magnitogorsk remains efficient, which

February 13, 2015. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) is planning to retain its current production output during the next decade and therefore make some 12,000,000,000 kg of metal goods at its primary production site in Magnitogorsk. To ensure maximum output, MMK will focus on efficiency, the company’s Business Development & Management Director Maxim Lapin said at an Adam Smith Conferences media event dedicated to the CIS and Russia’s metallurgical and mining industry. ‘MMK strategy for the following decade is making sure its head plant in Magnitogorsk remains efficient, which

February 13, 2015. All the preparations for the Russian Classic hockey game that is to take place at Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant’s stadium on February 14 are complete in Nizhniy Tagil. Nizhniy Tagil’s Sputnik will play against Yuzhniy Ural from Orsk. ‘Russian Classic is more than a grand hockey match. This is a performance that is meant to show Nizhniy Tagil as a city where serious and positive changes are taking place. Nizhniy Tagil has always been keen on sports: take, for example, the successful round of the World Cup Ski Jumping Championship, as well as the upcoming hockey

February 13, 2015. LEPSE Electric Machine-Building Plant (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) launched Combomax 400, a laser welding unit. This new Russian equipment, made by Bulat, was delivered onto the plant in late 2014 as part of the company’s import replacement program, the corporation’s press service reports. The unit is meant for welding parts of electric mechanisms, eliminating the defects of castings, repairing compression molds, and for other operations where welding without thermal deformation is required. ‘Combomax 400 has a powerful laser beam source that allows

February 13, 2015. One of the world’s major pipe manufacturers, Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) bought a 100% stake in ChermetServisSnabzheniye. The transaction cost the company some 2,73bn RUR. This purchase is not going to affect the capital expenses in 2015; on the contrary, the deal is expected to reduce the CAPEX by over 34% compared with 2014, the company’s press service reports. ChermetServisSnabzheniye was set up in 2000; it is now one of the largest players on the Russian scrap ferrous metal market and keeps building up on its sales and revenues. ChermetServisSnabzheniye is TMK’s

February 13, 2015. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK), one of the world’s leading OCTG producers, redeemed its convertible bonds (to be paid off in 2015) with 5.25% coupon yield, the company’s press service reports. The bonds could be converted into TMK’s GDRs, each of which stand for four ordinary shares. In order to pay off the bonds, TMK used the money obtained through its operational and financial performance, including a four-year U.S. dollar loan taken out from one of major Russian privately run banks. The company isn’t planning to go through with a public offer of its 17,876,489 GDRs

February 13, 2015. The Sociology Department of Financial University under the Russian Federation Government carried a rating of the country’s cities with the best living standards in 2014. According to Yekaterinburg Council’s press service, the research involved 37 Russian cities with population over 500,000 people. The rating positions were ascribed based on statistical and sociological data that were obtained through population surveys. Yekaterinburg was given the 6th position in the rating in terms of the quality of education it offers. Head of Yekaterinburg Council Education Department

February 12, 2015. Panorama was chosen as an official broadcasting partner for Russia Arms Expo 2015 and for the large-scale demonstration of the Russian military vehicles’ combat and operation potential, Uralvagonzavod Corporation (RAE’s primary coordinator) press service reports. ‘Panorama has broadcast over 700 sports, political, and cultural events in Russia and abroad. The company’s key project was on the national TV signal for the 22nd Winter Olympics and the national and international TV signals for the 11th Winter Paralympics 2014 in Sochi. The International Olympic Committee awarded

February 12, 2015. A home front workers memorial will be unveiled in Chelyabinsk on Victory Day to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the country’s victory in Great Patriotic War. The management of ChTZ Uraltrac (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) decided to donate to the memorial a historic mill made in 1936 that was earlier used by the plant. According to Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service, the memorial is to portray two teenagers, a boy and a girl, kneeling over a mill and making a shell. ‘The unnatural juxtaposition of children and weapons is meant to produce a

February 12, 2015. MegaFon and QIWI (a payment service) launched a new, Visa-based QIWI Wallet together, the mobile carrier’s press service reports. MegaFon subscribers can now make payments to Visa QIWI Wallet providers at no extra charge. Money can be transferred from the mobile phone account or QIWI wallet; the e-wallet can be used to pay Internet and housing bills and fines and to do shopping online. In addition to this, MegaFon subscribers get a bonus (0.5% of the payment amount) for each transaction via Visa QIWI Wallet; the bonus goes to a subscriber’s mobile phone account. New Visa

February 12, 2015. A sports player from Seversky Pipe Plant (STZ, a member enterprise of Pipe Metallurgical Company) Anna Medvedeva won the Ural round of Russian Ski Track 2015, an All-Russian ski race. Medvedeva was the best in the ten-kilometer free style race, the company’s press service reports. Master of sports in ski racing, Anna Medvedeva has been working at STZ Pipe-Rolling Department since 2008. The 25-year-old sports woman spends all of her free time practicing with the help of Andrei Medvedev, her brother and coach at Polevskoy Junior Sports School. This is the first time an STZ

February 12, 2015. In December 2014, the average amount of money a customer spent at Ural Federal District-based shops kept growing primarily due to an anomalous surge in consumer demand, which, in its turn, was caused by the plummeting exchange rate of the ruble. The country’s average came to 670 RUR, which was 15% more than a month earlier, Romir, a research holding, reports. This figure was also 10% higher than in December 2013 (605 RUR). The average bottom line on a cash receipt changed in all parts of Russia last December; the figure grew the most in the south of the country (+21%), by

February 11, 2015. This year’s certification audit of engineers and technicians takes place at Kamensk Uralsky Foundry/KULZ (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation). According to the corporation’s press service, the first round of the audit involved ‘new staff’- those who joined the company or were promoted to a new position slightly over a year ago. The audit committee, headed by the plant’s Technical Director, examined a number of workers and managers to see if they comply with their work obligations. ‘The professional audit involved an economist, a