UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 20, 2017. Russian Copper Company’s Kyshtym Copper Electrolysis Plant (KMEZ) won bronze in the annual Collective Agreement Contest held among Chelyabinsk Region-based companies with 1,000 to 2,000 employees, Russian Copper Company’s press service reports. ‘The contest is coordinated for local businesses and organizations by Chelyabinsk Region’s trilateral social/labor relations committee. The goal is to improve the way social/labor relations get regulated through collective agreements and to make the companies’ decision-making process more efficient. Companies’

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 20, 2017. The project on the construction of a set of new apartment buildings in Uktus District got approved in the course of recent public hearings in Yekaterinburg. Some 170,000 m2 worth of new housing will get put up along the embankment of Nizhneisetsky Pond. Ten hectares of land in Scherbakov St-Krestyanskaya St-Nizhneisetsky Pond-Dunitova Lane will be used to build five 12- to 32-story apartment buildings. There will also be a kindergarten for 350 children and a schools for 1,100 students. The infrastructure will provide for 2,125 underground and auto-silo

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 19, 2017. Ural Airlines keep introducing more flights operated from Moscow’s Zhukovsky Airport as part of Russia-Kazakhstan international relations program, the air carrier’s press service reports. Starting February 15, 2017, their passengers will be able to travel directly from Astana to Moscow and back. Departure time is 6:15 PM (Astana), arrival time is 6:55 PM (Moscow) and then 11:00 AM (Moscow) and 5:15P M (Astana), respectively. The new international flight will be operated three times a week (every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday). Ural Airlines now also

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 19, 2017. Ural Airlines offered its services to 6,467,188 people last year, which exceeded the figures for one year earlier by 19%, the air carrier’s press service reports. The airline operated 47,378 flights (up 11% on the year 2015), including 29,826 domestic flights, 8,985 flights to and from the CIS member states, and 8,567 international flights. The company’s passenger turnover reached 15,344,678,000 passenger-kilometers (up 17% on a year earlier). 471,361 people fly with Ural Airlines in December 2016 alone, and 3,652 flights, including 2,279 domestic ones,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 19, 2017. SKB-Bank was declared Yekaterinburg and Sverdlovsk Region’s Bank of The Year in 2016, the bank’s press service refers to BankInformService as saying. The bank’s products kept making it to the list of the most popular offers on the market throughout the year; SKB-Bank also contributed greatly to BankInformService’s website-based projects. The bank’s loan officers and consultants offered their advice online and proved readily available; also, SKB-Bank’s press service was quick to inform the public of all their news and helped write editorial reviews. The

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 19, 2017. Based on the International Labor Organization’s data-gathering methods, the number of those currently unemployed was estimated at 142,000 people in Sverdlovsk Region in Q’IV 16, Rosstat reports. In the Mid-Urals on the whole, unemployment rate comes to 6.2% at the moment (compared with 6.8%, or 152,500 people, in the last quarter of 2015).

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 19, 2017. Last year, an existing home could be had for 48,284 RUR per m2 on average on Sverdlovsk Region market, which was 4.5% less than one year previously, SRG’s research findings indicate. In absolute terms, the decrease amounted to 2,281 RUR per m2. As for Ural Federal District on the whole, prices declined most noticeably in Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous District (-7.9%) and Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous District (-6.2%). Things look best in Chelyabinsk Region (-3.1%) and Kurgan Region (-4.2%).

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 18, 2017. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation was given state guarantees (25.7bn RUR) to help refinance the company’s head plant’s current debts as well as those of its member enterprises ChTZ Uraltrac and Uraltransmash, the corporation’s press service reports. The state guarantee agreements were signed on December 30, 2016; it took the parties involved eight months to coordinate all the technicalities. The state guarantees were provided in part as security for the loans issued by Gazprombank to help ChTZ Uraltrac and Uraltransmash pay off their principal debt to Alfa

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 18, 2017. EVRAZ Holding’s Kachkanar Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise (KGOK) keeps upgrading the facilities and equipment in use at its Severny mine, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s press office reports. A new, 130-ton self-dumping truck was introduced at the mine in early January. This is the 30th vehicle the company bought as part of converting the mine to a new ore production and transportation scheme. ‘Switching the mine to a new, combined scheme is one of the ways to make it more productive. In addition to 130-ton BelAZ trucks, the company also purchased a number

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 18, 2017. Sinara Group’s Sinara Development recently commissioned Aquarelle, an apartment building in Volgograd’s Krasnooktyabrsky District, the Group’s PR Center reports. The commissioning permit was issued on December 29, 2016; the owners are currently being handed over the keys to their new homes. ‘The sixteen-story apartment building at 13 Novoremeslennaya St has 286 apartments in its two sections (0ver 14,000 m2 all in all). The choice location provides a great view of urban landscapes, including that of Mamayev Kurgan. There are schools, kindergartens,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 18, 2017. A Communion service, with Great Blessing of the Waters, will take place at Akademicheskiy District’s parish church in commemoration of the Baptism of the Lord, RSG-Akademicheskoye’s press service reports. Ice bathing opportunities will be provided for the believers, with a baptismal font and heated changing cabins installed next to the church. ‘Great Blessing of the Waters takes place the day before the Baptism of the Lord and on Epiphany Day itself. Orthodox Christians then keep the holy water at home throughout the year, using it sparingly and with

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 18, 2017. Consumer prices rose by 5.8% in Sverdlovsk Region in December 2016 against one year earlier; in December 2015, the increase was 14% against December 2014, Sverdlovskstat reports. Food items (excluding alcohol) grew 4.7% more expensive (the increase was 17.2% in December 2015), alcohol drinks grew 7.9% more expensive (9% in December 2015). The price of milk and dairy products went up by 10.1% on average, that of pasta, cheese, and bread and pastry by 6.6%, 6.2%, and 5.2%, respectively. Grains and pulses grew 10.9% more expensive on average. The price

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 17, 2017. Russian Copper Company gave out valuable prizes to amateur photographers for their bright and expressive pictures of a light show projected onto Yekaterinburg Council building, the company press service reports. ‘Russian Copper Company’s light show, coordinated on December 29-January 8 with support from Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev, was probably the most memorable event of this year’s winter break in Yekaterinburg. The multimedia show got projected onto the city council building, with pictures and videos on Yekaterinburg’s past and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 17, 2017. Sinara Group’s Ural Locomotives handed its first 2ES7 AC freight loco with a-synchronic drive over to East-Siberian Railways’ Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM), Sinara Group’s press service reports. The two-section locomotive got successfully tried out and certified in October-December 2016. ‘The mainline is normally used for giving extreme-conditions trial runs to all new types of locomotives. BAM presents a combination of operation-complicating factors: there are quite a few difficult slopes and angles, outside temperature varies between 50 degrees centigrade

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 17, 2017. My Vmeste Charity Fund and the telecommunications provider MegaFon Ural carried out a social service campaign to collect 30m RUR for terminally ill children by mid-December. This is 9m RUR more than in the year 2015, MegaFon’s press service reports. ‘A special video created by Voskhod Advertising Agency proved the key feature in drawing the public’s attention to the kids’ problems. The video both moved the general viewers and impressed adverting community professionals, as the clip won three important awards: PORA!2016 Social Service Announcement Prize

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 17, 2017. Russian Copper Company’s Karabashmed and Karabash Council singed a social partnership agreement, the company press service reports. Karabashmed Director-General Andrei Khanzhin, Mayor of Karabash Oleg Budanov, Chair of Deputies’ Council Dmitri Shutkin, Russian Copper Company Vice President for HR & SCR Anna Shabarova, and Russian Copper Company Social Policy Director Elena Tarasova took part in the signing ceremony. The framework partnership agreement will cover both new projects (construction of the sports facility Metallurg and a shopping mall,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 17, 2017. 1,149,000 passengers traveled abroad from Regional Airports Holding’s Koltsovo Airport in Yekaterinburg last year, which was 23.5% less than one year previously, the airport’s Strategic Communications Department reports. At the same time, passenger traffic rose by 14.8% for domestic flights and reached the record-setting 3,151,000 people. 4,300,000 people went through Koltsovo Airport last year altogether, which was 53,000 people more than in the year 2015. Sixty-eight air carriers operated their flights from the airport to 135 different destinations in

UrBC, Moscow, January 16, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) proved No.1 among Russian manufacturers of galvanized and coated rolled metal products from among ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgical enterprises in the second half of 2016. The usual rating was carried by Metallosnabzheniye I Sbyt magazine. This is the third time MMK has made it to the top of this rating. ‘The plant became the coated metal goods market leader thanks to its long-term galvanizing and polymeric coating facilities upgrade program. The plant introduced two continuous hot-dip galvanizing units and two

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 16, 2017. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant selected its Youth Mentors of The Year as usual; forty people from the plant’s various departments and divisions took part in the contest, the company press service reports. There are currently over a thousand mentors active at the plant. Turner from the plant’s Experimental Department Vyacheslav Kurdeyev won the first prize this year, while repair mechanic from the Assembly Department Vyacheslav Akimov and steel smelter from the Open Hearth Department Igor Korkin won silver and bronze, respectively. ‘The judges

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 16, 2017. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) sold 882,000,000 kg of steel pipes to customers in the last quarter of 2016, which was 7.4% more than in the third quarter; the increase was mainly brought about by the increased sales of welded pipes and weldless OCTGs within TMK’s Russian division. The company sold 3.1% more weldless pipes in Q’IV 16 than in Q’III and reached 633,000,000 kg. Mainly, these were weldless OCTGs and weldless industrial pipes. Welded pipe sales rose by 20% compared with the third quarter of 2016 and amounted to 249,000,000 kg; mainly, these