UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 22, 2015. Thirty-seven alumni of ChTPZ Group Training Center’s Future of White Metallurgy Program took their oaths to join the military forces in Gorny Shchit, Sverdlovsk Region, the company press service reports. The solemn ceremony was attended by the military officials, managers of Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group), and faculty of Pervouralsk Metallurgical School. ChTPZ Group, Central Military District’s Air Command, Sverdlovsk Region Government, and Pervouralsk Metallurgical School signed a special agreement in 2012 which allowed the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 22, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation/UVZ came up with a performance report on development engineers and innovators’ efforts over the last three years, the corporation’s press service reports. Over 500 people submitted their improvement proposals over the last few years, thus saving the company more than 180m RUR. The head plant’s Mechanical Assembly Department 1 has produced the greatest number of proposals so far; Repairs Department 1 comes second, and two of the plant’s Assembly Departments share the third place on the list. The plant also hosted a plenary

UrBC, Moscow, July 21, 2015. The Russian Federation Government allocated Sverdlovsk Region 143.14m RUR to get new, natural gas-fueled buses, the Cabinet’s official website states. ‘The subsidies (3bn RUR all in all) were allocated in accordance with the purchasing regulations for buses and utility vehicles and within the framework of the government’s industrial development program and its sub-program for the automobile industry,’ the announcement says.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 21, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region’s unemployment rate rose from 1.15% to 1.44% in the last six months, the Labor & Employment Department’s Natalia Bordyugova announced at a press conference recently. ‘The overall trend is distinctly negative. There are 32,787 people without a job in Sverdlovsk Region at the moment. However, this is still remarkably different from the recession of 2008-2009 when the number of the unemployed stood at 96,000 people. I would like to believe things aren’t going to get as bad as then,’ she said. The official says there are no signs of

UrBC, Moscow, July 21, 2015. Russians spent 852.8bn RUR on new cars in the first half of the year, which was 25% less than a year earlier, Avtostat reports. 735,200 new cars were sold on the market (down 37% compared with the first half of 2014). The weighted average price of one automobile rose by 18% in the last six months and came to 1.16m RUR. For Russian cars, the price increase was 13% (up to 477,500 RUR), for foreign ones, the increase was 21% (up to1.332m RUR). Avtostat Director Sergey Tselikov says prices are unlikely to keep going up in the short to medium turn, while the second

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 21, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region-based companies are expected to make 3,250 employees redundant within the next two to three months, the Labor & Employment Department’s Natalia Bordyugova announced at a press conference recently. ‘So far, seventy-five different businesses have informed us they were planning on layoffs this year. Thirty-five companies are already at it, saying they will have to let 3,250 people go,’ Bordyugova said. The official said the labor market was getting grimmer in nearly all respects.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 21, 2015. Armored Warfare, an online multi-player game, now features armored vehicles made by Uralvagonzavod Corporation, the company press service reports. The game players can use the T90 tank and Terminator, a fire support vehicle. ‘These are eighth-level vehicles that the players have been particularly enthusiastic and impatient to try out. These are currently the game’s most powerful and most advanced machines,’ the press service says. The game is being beta-tested at the moment. Uralvagonzavod Corporation and Mail.ru Group are acting as partners in this

UrBC, Moscow, July 20, 2015. Pipe Metallurgical Company/TMK Chairman of the BOD Dmitri Pumpyanski is now on the governmental transport committee. The decree to this extent was signed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev and published on the official legal news portal. Pumpyanski is going to represent the Russian Union of Industrialists & Employers on the committee. The governmental transport committee was set up in September 2013. The goal is to ensure smooth communication between the government and the Russian business community in the transport field.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 20, 2015. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) now offers its services to business customers in yet another office in Novosibirsk (188 Krasny Ave), the bank’s press service reports. This means the UBRD now operates three branches in Novosibirsk where corporates are welcome. Director of the bank’s Novosibirsk subsidiary Larisa Kuchendayeva says the decision to introduce a new branch for business customers was brought about by increased local demand. Novosibirsk subsidiary was added to the bank’s network in the spring of 2012. The subsidiary’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 20, 2015. Oblkommunenergo is working on connecting eleven of Sverdlovsk Region-based kindergartens to the power supply network, the company’s press service reports. The project documentation is currently being developed. The new kindergartens are located in Talitsa, Kushva, and Verkniy Tagil. The company’s Deputy Chief Engineer for Capital Construction Tatiana Lobastova explains that under the terms of the contract, the kindergartens must be launched in 2016, however, since these facilities are so important, it was decided to provide them with electric power supply

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 20, 2015. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant/PNTZ (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) won in the 12th Mining & Metallurgical Sector’s CSR Leader Contest in the Youth Policy category, the plant’s press service reports. ‘Up to 5,000 people take part in the plant’s Youth Council-coordinated events every year, which is more than a half of our workers, as a matter of fact. We organize spectacular and memorable contests, festivals, and sports competitions. This noticeable level of involvement means our employees in the under-35 age group get a chance to develop their

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 20, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant reports they have already fulfilled the MoD procurement order for the year 2015, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘The plant delivered a set of 29 repaired and upgraded T-72B3 tanks to the Ministry of Defense. This was a rather difficult part of the procurement to complete, since this had to be done at the same time as the plant was launching its brand new, third-post-war-generation Armata-platform-based tank. The latter was first demonstrated to the public during the Victory Day Parade on May 9. Still, both

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 17, 2015. Two B10M.0101EL bulldozers made at ChTZ Uraltrac (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) have been delivered to an electric power supplier, the corporation’s press service reports. The two vehicles with mechanical transmission and D-180 motor are both fitted with a 25,000-kg-strong traction hydraulic winch; the latter was also made at ChTZ Uraltrac, the plant making these on a serial scale. ‘The bulldozers were sent by road and delivered to customer via the plant’s local dealer Vigma, which will also be in charge of the after-sales services. The

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 17, 2015. Director-General of Tominsky Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise (a member enterprise of Russian Copper Company) Valeriy Ulanovsky met a group of locals from Tomino, the village whose residents need to be relocated in order for Tominsky to be built. ‘The purpose of the meeting is to provide the locals once again with information on how the relocation will proceed. Our best professionals will be invited to work with the complex real estate issues at hand. Our company hired a team of Chelyabinsk-based estate agents who will be finding new homes for those

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 17, 2015. ChTPZ Group delivered 14,200,000 kg of large-diameter pipes to Kazakhstan, where the LDPs will be used to restore the Tuimazy-Omsk-Novosibirsk pipeline, the Group’s press service reports. The pipes were shipped in March through June 2015. Based on the order specifications, the Group supplied its customer with 720mm pipes (wall width 10-14mm) and 1,020mm pipes (wall width 10mm) made of K52 steel. All of the LDPs have corrosion-resistant outer coating and will be used for repairing Kazakhstan’s section of the pipeline. The said pipeline’s capacity currently

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 17, 2015. 6m customers subscribed to MegaFon Ural as their mobile communication provider within the thirteen years of the company’s market presence. According to the provider’s press service, they have so far offered their customers 115bn minutes worth of conversation time and handled 6.4bn text messages. Apart from that, the subscribers’ Internet traffic rose by 50% in the first quarter of 2015 alone against a year earlier. ‘Our primary focus is on providing highest quality service. We have expanded our network by 1.5 times in the last three years, for one. Over

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 17, 2015. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development, Visa, and the electronic goods chain M.Video are holding their Visa Double Luck Contest, the bank’s press service reports. Under the terms of the contest, M.Video customers who make 2,990RUR worth of purchases before August 3, 2015 are entitled to money prizes such as up to 5,000-ruble discounts on their next purchase and a chance to win 1m RUR every week. Besides, the prize amount gets doubled if customers pay by their Visa cards, so the next purchase discount comes to 10,000 rubles.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 16, 2015. Some 100 young employees of Uralvagonzavod Corporation are going to train as software-controlled machine operators at the company training center in Voronezh this year, the corporation’s press service reports. This training is a multi-faceted process, from testing and selection of candidates to the actual practice with new equipment. Four groups of 8-12 people from the head plant’s carriage assembly, mechanical assembly, tool-making department, and some other divisions have undergone training by now. ‘Every group spent two weeks attending Voronezh experts’

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 16, 2015. Ural Airlines’ passenger traffic rose by 8% in June, with the airline operating 4,273 flights all in all. Of these, 898 flights were international ones, 2,567 flights were domestic ones, and 808 flights were operated to and from the CIS member states, the air carrier’s press service reports. The airline flew 2,259,312 people in the first half of the year, which exceeded the figures for a year earlier by 2%. Ural Airlines operated 18,422 flights, including 3,624 international ones, 10,085 domestic ones, and 4,713 flights to and from the CIS member states.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July16, 2015. The number of MegaFon subscribers who used the option of getting a customized dial tone rose by 15% in the six months of 2015 compared with a year earlier, the telecommunications provider’s press service reports. ‘Based on our business customer preference analysis, every one in ten Urals-based businesses replaces the standard dial tone with a customized tune,’ says MegaFon Ural Business Customer Director Evgeniy Ivanov. Most of such subscribers are located in Sverdlovsk Region, Tyumen Region, and Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region. MegaFon reports Russian