August 26, 2015. Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Boris Dubrovsky met with Russian President Vladimir Putin to report on Russian Copper Company’s successfully completed project, Mikheevskiy Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise, the company press service reports. ‘Our natural resource-extracting companies are doing quite well, with RCC’s new copper mine increasing our output by 28%. Our metallurgical enterprises have proven rather stable as well,’ the Governor said. Mikheevskiy is Russian Copper Company’s green field project, with over 27bn RUR in investments, which has created some 1,000 new

August 25, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) inspected 7,300 kg of fish and discarded 3,400 kg (46.3%) as unfit to eat, their press service reports. The current percentage exceeds that of last year by 1.8 times. For one, the number of cases when fish was found unsuitable for consumption because the food did not meet the normative quality requirements rose by 4.3 times. Inspectors took 166 food samples, of which 28.3% did not meet the normative requirements and 25.4% did not comply with the bacteriological standards. Also, 23.5% and 20% of

August 25, 2015. Moscow Arbitration Court refused to overrule the Central Bank’s decision to annul Plato-Bank’s license, despite the Yekaterinburg-based bank’s owner Andrei Lazarev’s claims. The legal grounds for the decision haven’t been made open to the public just yet. Plato Bank was set up in 1992 as a limited liability company then known as Commercial Bank Iset. The company acquired its current name in March 1996. It is reported that 87% of the bank’s shares belonged to Lazarev. Plato-Bank’s license was annulled as early as May 13, 2015. The Central Bank took the step ‘since the lending

August 25, 2015. RAEX demoted Uralsib Leasing Company’s credit rating from A to B++ and revoked it because the company decided not to go on with it, the rating agency’s website states. The rating was reconsidered because the company’s end owner, Bank Uralsib, can no longer support it financially on the same scale as before. Besides, growing losses (from 244.9m RUR in the first half of 2014 up to 2.5bn RUR in the first half of 2015), poor quality of the leasing portfolio, and high foreign currency risks keep affecting the company’s solvency.

August 25, 2015. Up to 8% of Yekaterinburg’s shopping space might become vacant by the end of the year, Ural Chamber of Real Estate reports. It is reported that the amount of currently unused shopping space has gone up from 2% to 4.2% over the last year. For one, Gulliver Kinder in Vostochny Mall, Poltinnik Furniture and Corporation Center (a white goods store) in Antey Shopping Club, StroyArsenal Hypermarket in Wow House Mall, Corporation Center in Kirovsky Lux Mall, Eldorado in Fan Fan, and Snow Queen in Karnaval Mall all closed down in the last twelve months. Given this dropping demand,

August 25, 2015. Ural Railcar-Building Design Office (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) added a new gondola car with improved performance characteristics to its range of 12-196-02 makes. According to the corporation’s press service, the new car is another addition to their range of innovative products mounted on 18-194-1 bogie that can handle more weight than before and only has to get overhauled every 500,000 km. ‘The new gondola car is unique in that its capacity was extended to 94 m3, yet its size still makes it possible to do the unloading with all existing kinds of

August 25, 2015. Lyudinovsky Locomotive Plant/LTZ (a member enterprise of Sinara Transport Machines) was issued a compliance certificate that states its TG16M main-line locomotives meet the Federal Railway Transport Register requirements, Sinara Group reports. ‘This is a new page in the plant’s history. Customers only used to know LTZ as a shunter manufacturer, but now main-line locos open new markets and therefore offer a promising future for the plant and the town. This will also make Kaluga Region a leading railway vehicle-manufacturing area,’ says Governor of Kaluga Region Anatoly

August 24, 2015. Ural Airlines are launching a new China-bound flight from Khabarovsk. According to the company press service, the first such flight (Khabarovsk to Changchun and back) will be operated on October 13, 2015. Flights will be available every Tuesday, with return flights on Wednesdays. Prices start from 7,655 RUR (one way) and 13,355 RUR (round trip), all fees included. ‘Changchun is an interesting place for businesspeople. This is one of China’s most investment-friendly cities with some 3,000 enterprises in all sectors of industry ranging from metallurgy to hi tech. This is a

August 24, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant in Nizhniy Tagil is holding a company arts contest in September. A talent show of sorts will take place at I.V. Okunev Palace of Culture, the company press service reports. ‘The idea is to offer some entertainment to the plant workers as well as to reveal their creative potential and build up on company traditions. Both the head plant employees and workers from the corporation’s other member enterprises located in Nizhniy Tagil are eligible to compete in opera, stage, folk, pop, rock, and rap singing,’ the press service says. As the

August 24, 2015. Heads of Volzhsky Pipe Plant (a member enterprise of Pipe Metallurgical Company/TMK) technical and quality control departments in TMK’s Russian, European, Middle Eastern, and U.S. divisions met to look at results produced by the set of quality and efficiency enhancement measures taken in the first half of the year, the company press service reports. The company managed to keep up with the metal-spending and product quality targets in the six months of 2015, despite the fact that the target figures are getting stricter by the year. An analysis of the company’s quality

August 24, 2015. MegaFon is going to become the general partner for the Junior Club World Cup hockey games this year. The world’s strongest junior hockey teams will meet in Yekaterinburg, Nizhniy Tagil, and Verkhnyaya Pyshma on August 24-30, so the telecommunications provider is adjusting its equipment settings to make sure it can handle the upcoming enormous amount of phone time and internet traffic, MegaFon’s press service reports. Eight teams from Russia, Finland, Kazakhstan, Byelorussia, United States, Latvia, and Sweden will try to prove the best. Russia will be represented by Chaika

August 24, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court will soon hear a claim laid against Nizhniy Tagil Boiler & Radiator Plant; the claim relates to the defendant’s alleged insolvency, the court states. The claim was laid by OOO UralTechInvest on August 20, 2015. It is not clear at the moment how much money is owed to the creditor. Nizhniy Tagil Boiler & Radiator Plant was built in the mid-fifties and has been producing heating radiators since 1961. The company also makes paints and coatings, concrete goods, and cast iron and steel pipes. According to Sverdlovsk Region Labor &

August 21, 2015. Sredneuralsky Copper-Smelting Plant/SUMZ (a member enterprise of Ural Mining & Metallurgical Company) decided on using a credit line of up to $40m offered by Gazprombank, the company reports. This is, in fact, a working capital loan that the company needs to refinance its other financial obligations, among other things. Under the agreement, Gazprombank is willing to provide the money in national (ruble) as well as foreign (US dollar and Euro) currency.

August 21, 2015. The average monthly pay came to 34,000 RUR in Russia in July, which was, in nominal value, 5% more than one year earlier, Rosstat announced Wednesday. However, the figure actually decreased by 9.2% in real terms when compared to last July and by 8.8% when compared with the start of this year. The population’s actual income went down by 2% against July 2014, Rosstat reports. In fact, the Russians’ income was down by 3.5% in June, by 6.4% in May, by 4% in April, by 1.8% in March, by 1.6% in February, and by 0.8% in January. The real-terms figure shrank by 2.9% in the seven

August 21, 2015. STK, one of Sverdlovsk Region’s heating power suppliers, had to pay 4,074,166 RUR in fines for violating fair competition legislation, the Federal Antimonopoly Service’s Sverdlovsk Region division reports. ‘It was determined that STK had violated Article 10 (Part 1) of the competition protection law by unjustifiably pronouncing a heating power meter obsolete before its lifespan was actually over,’ the division says. The FAS found STK guilty of an administrative offense, with charges based on Article 14.31 (Part 2) of the Russian Federation Administrative Offense Code, and

August 21, 2015. The city council of Sudak, Crimea, was given a new bulldozer by Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant/ChTZ (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation). According to the corporation’s press service, it was decided as early as last year that certain Russian Federation constituencies would be supporting certain Crimean cities, so now the constituencies are helping in every way they can, including equipment supplies. ‘Sverdlovsk Region now supports Sudak. A ChTZ bulldozer was purchased and sent to the Crimea via a dealer company Vigma. The bulldozer has already reached the city by

August 21, 2015. META (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) sold 624,000,000 kg of scrap metal in the first half of the year, which was 7% better than a year earlier, when the figure stood at 585,000,000 kg. Out of these, 342,000,000 kg were collected by the company itself and 282,000,000 kg were transit scrap metal, the Group’s press service reports. META was able to sell more since they focused on collecting more scrap metal for Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group as well), since the latter now needs 28%, or 99,000,000 kg more raw stuffs; besides, META’s relations

August 20, 2015. Tickets for the Supreme Hockey League Championship 2015-2016 are already available at Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s Ice Sports Palace in Nizhniy Tagil, the corporation’s press service reports. 4,000 RUR will buy you admission to 25 home games at Sputnik Hockey Club’s arena and a lot of spectacular moments on the ice. Besides, a Hyundai Solaris will be played out among the season ticket holders before New Year’s Eve. Only 600 season tickets are available for purchase at the moment, with another hundred already reserved by the team’s supporter prior to the sales takeoff. Both

August 20, 2015. The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development is no longer a shareholder of Yekaterinburg-based Uraltransabnk, the issuer reports. It is reported that the EBRD sold 62,466,349 of voting shares (25.0000002% of Uraltransbank’s authorized capital) on August 17, 2015. The former owned the shareholding for eleven years all in all. The shares were sold to OOO Sevilon (8.760615%) and Entrepreneurial Activity Development Fund (8.999385%). Fitch, the international rating agency, demoted Uraltransbank’s rating outlook from Stable down to Negative in January 2015. Fitch said

August 20, 2015. The international Russia Arms Expo 2015 will now comprise some business agenda in addition to the show and the exhibition proper; the business meetings will be related to the Russian defense industry’s scientific and technological development in the future, the event coordinators report. More specifically, there will be meetings on the international weaponry market opportunities, development of new kinds of armaments, military and technological cooperation, and finance and investment for the defense industry. The meetings will be contributed to by heads of defense departments