UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2016. FIFA lawyers operating in Russia asked the police to investigate the sale of pirated World Cup 2018 merchandise in Yekaterinburg. ‘We could buy World Cup 2018 souvenirs at a number of newspaper kiosks. It was determined that the products weren’t trademark-protected authentic items, which is why we are taking the case to the police,’ AIS Agency (FIFA’s representative in Russia) says. It appears local kiosks are selling the World Football Championship 2018 souvenir magnets made in Tomsk; the magnets can be had for 110 RUR apiece. However, no official

UrBC, Moscow, December 21, 2016. The Russian Government is going to allocate 556.778m RUR to help Sverdlovsk Region reach a more balanced budget, the Cabinet’s official website states. ‘A special decree was adopted to distribute 33.56bn RUR worth of federal budget subsidies across eighty-two Russian Federation constituencies to support their respective budgets’ balances,’ the website says. 20bn RUR will be directed to make up for the constituencies’ expenses related to civil service workers’ pay, and 3.72bn RUR will be spent to compensate the constituencies’ budget expenses occasioned by the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 20, 2016. The Ministry of Emergencies’ Omsk Region division issued its performance report for the year 2016 on December 13, pointing out its best workers and people who proved most helpful in emergency prevention and rescue operations. Director-General of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Omsktransmash Igor Lobov was among those the ministry singled out, the company press service reports. The ministry representatives thanked Omsktransmash for supporting their efforts and presented Lobov with the Marshal Vassily Chuikov Medal. ‘This is a decoration given out for

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 20, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant recently carried out its annual fire safety check at all of its departments and divisions, the company press service reports. ‘In order to keep up with our fire safety standards, we made sure all of the State Fire Surveillance Agency’s requirements have been met and our departments are all supplied with emergency firefighting equipment. Automatic fire alarms and fire extinguishing units were installed at eight of our facilities, so there are 438 such units at the plant all in all. This year, we also purchased

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 20, 2016. Russian Copper Company representatives are going to be present at the solemn ceremony of laying the first symbolic stone at the prospective gym and stadium site in Karabash on December 21, the company press service reports. The ceremony will be attended by Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Boris Dubrovsky and Russian Copper Company Chair of the BOD Igor Altushkin. The 1,400-m2 sports facility will be located next to a plant’s headquarters, Sinegorye Health Resort, and John Chrysostom Church. There will be volleyball and mini football pitches, showers and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 20, 2016. The amount of money deposited by private individuals with the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) increased by 12% against December 2015, the bank’s press service reports. As of December 1, 2016, the entire deposit portfolio reached 147bn RUR, which is, on the whole, a faster growth than the country’s average. According to UBRD Debit Transactions Director Olga Aksenova, private individuals’ deposits grew a bit a slower this year than in the year 2015, for a number of reasons. Firstly, this year’s market trend for interest rates on

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 20, 2016. Federal Grid Company United Energy System launched a new, 501 MVA-strong autotransformer unit at its Gazovaya Power Substation in Orenburg Region, the company press service reports. This is expected to ensure a more reliable power supply for the area’s gas refinery and helium plant, oil and gas companies, a metallurgical works, and Iriklinskaya Power Plant. Gazovaya Substation now runs on a set of three 500-kilowatt single-phase autotransformers (total capacity: 501 MVA), with new sensors and monitoring appliances to ensure equipment diagnostics online,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 19, 2016. Saint Petersburg-Nizhniy Tagil, an exhibition of art works by Petr Ovchenkov, a Moscow-based artist originally from Nizhniy Tagil, opened at Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Museum, the company press service reports. There are thirty-five pieces dedicated to Saint Petersburg and twenty depicting Nizhniy Tagil landscapes on display at the museum. Ovchenkov, member of the International Arts Foundation’s Moscow unit, member of the Professional Artists’ Union, and Associate Member of Saint Petersburg Petrovskaya Academy of Sciences & Arts, presented one

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 19, 2016. EVRAZ Holding’s Kachkanar Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise (KGOK) keeps replacing and upgrading its tailing pond equipment, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s press office reports. For one, the company bought a heavy-duty bulldozer that is twice as productive as its earlier versions. ‘The bulldozer is used to put up tailing pond dams. This unique vehicle is fitted with an electronically controlled hydrostatic drive and is specifically customized to work on loose, soft, moist ground (the usual condition at a tailing pond). The bulldozer operator can enjoy the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 19, 2016. Sinara Group’s Sinara Development is about to get two new apartment buildings in Volgograd commissioned: these are Aquarelle and the 10th building in Novy Svet Condominium, Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. Sinara Development is now offering its customers a chance to buy new homes at a discount (1,000 RUR off every square meter); the offer is good through the end of the year. ‘Aquarelle is a sixteen-story apartment building in the center of Krasnooktyabrsky District. There are schools, kindergartens, clinics, pharmacies, cafes, gyms, supermarkets, and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 19, 2016. RCC Boxing Promotions’ team are going to make sure all the steps are taken to prevent the event attendants from contracting measles during the sports show at Yekaterinburg EXPO on December 17, Russian Copper Company’s press service reports. ‘Based on Sverdlovsk Region Chief State Sanitary Officer’s Decree 01-01-01-04-03/28962 dated December 13, 2016, the organizers of the boxing show in Yekaterinburg EXPO must take all the measures to prevent the recent measles outbreak from spreading further,’ the press service says. 15,000 disposable medical face

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 19, 2016. A winter amusement park opens in Yekaterinburg’s Akademicheskiy District on December 17, RSG-Akademicheskoye’s press service reports. ‘Ural artists and locals worked together to create Dobrye Yelki New Year Arts & Crafts Park. There park features an unusual New Year’s tree themed along Korney Chukovsky’s children’s tales that you can actually ‘flick through’, a seven-meter-high arch-shaped ‘fir tree’ made of decorative lights and season’s ornaments, and a sculpture of the mythical creature Pushmi-pullyu,’ the press service says. All these objets

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 16, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant in Nizhniy Tagil is working to induce professional standards on the premises, the company press service reports. This is one of the plant’s primary people management goals for 2016 and 2017. ‘Our first professional standard was developed for job safety experts. Following a training session and an exam, 100% of our job safety professionals now meet their qualification and skills requirements. Now workers from the plant’s Weights & Measures Lab are also undergoing professional development training at our

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 16, 2016. A new equipment assembly line is now under way at Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ), the company press service reports. The assembly line will be installed in the engineering equipment building in the eastern section of the plant’s premises. This ‘restart’ is part of the plant’s optimization program and is expected to help bring all production facilities onto a single site so that the remaining empty spaces could be used for Technics Industrial Park. The primary assembly line that is currently in use is located in the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 16, 2016. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) proved Sverdlovsk Region’s best charity provider among ferrous metallurgical enterprises, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s press office reports. The awarding ceremony took place in Yekaterinburg on December 14, during the annual Charity Days. This year, NTMK directed over 1bn RUR to CSR and charity projects. ‘The holding has been supporting young infantile cerebral palsy patients for over a decade now. With some support from the company, children with disabilities can go horse-riding, take drawing

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 16, 2016. SKB-Bank was featured in sravni.ru’s reliability rating of Russia’s two hundred largest banks as the one in the second most reliable banks group, the bank’s press service reports. The rating is based on the banks’ financial report indicators and a number of other criteria and distributes the country’s two hundred major banks within the reliability range, from the most to the least dependable ones. SKB-Bank is now in the second group that unites banks controlled by federal constituencies’ governments, which means they are more or less state-run but a bit

Rosatom’s Ural Electrochemical Works (UEKhK) in Novouralsk hosted the 3d Small Group Leaders’ Forum on December 9, 2016, the company press service reports. The forum has been held at the premises every year since 2014 in order to ensure feedback flow between managers and employees and to increase workers’ involvement in the production management process. ‘Fifty of the company’s production managers, moderators, and experts united into one team for the day to look into ways of making their small groups more efficient,’ the press service says. According to the rules of the forum, all

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, December 15, 2016. The metal goods manufacturer MMK METIZ now makes copper-plated welding wire from S2Mo steel (diameter: 4.0 mm) as part of its import substitution program. ‘MMK METIZ is doing this by order of its key partner, Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant’s Vysota 239 Pipe Welding Department. The wire is used for automatic arc-smelting of large-diameter pipes made from alloyed and low-alloyed steels. The LDPs are customized to withstand increased working pressure and harsh climatic conditions. The wire was developed by MMK METIZ R&D department;

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 15, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation opened its UVZSHOP.ru in Moscow recently; the 50-m2 outlet is located on the 5th floor of Univergmag Moskva in Lewinsky Avenue, the company press service reports. The shop was opened within the framework of UVZ Media Service and Invest Capital’s partnership program, with support from the Eurasian Business Cooperation Council Non-Profit Partnership. ‘Fans of UVZ souvenir products have long wanted an outlet in Moscow, but our development strategy only covers franchises for shops outside the Urals. This is the first attempt to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 15, 2016. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) supplied a set of H2S resistant pipes for Gazprom’s Astrakhan oil/gas condensate field as part of the two parties’ import substitution program, TMK press service reports. The 89 mm and 114 mm pumping and compression pipes made of H2S resistant С90SS steel were designed specially for Astrakhan deposit, where H2S and CO2 content is particularly high. The long-term agreement TMK and Gazprom signed in October 2015 provides for design, development, and production of custom-made pipes that meet Gazprom’s technical