UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 20, 2017. Ural Football Club’s entire team, managers, and coaching staff all subscribed to the telecommunications provider MegaFon’s service shortly before the start of this season’s first official game, MegaFon’s press service reports. MegaFon and Ural announced they are going to work more closely together in 2017; the footballers will now enjoy 4G mobile connection and HD quality sound on their smartphones. ‘Our team needs to always stay in touch and be available, regardless of how far from home they are; it’s important for work issues as well as for making

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 20, 2017. ChTPZ Group’s Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant sold 1,713,000,000 kg of pipes to their customers last year, which amounted to 85% of the figures for a year earlier (=306,000,000 kg), the Group’s press service reports. ‘This decrease in sales was brought about by changes in the delivery schedule for Gazprom’s Power of Siberia and North-European Gas Pipeline as well as by the shrinking demand on both the domestic and the international markets. The demand for large-diameter pipes dropped most noticeably, that is, by 27%,’ the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 20, 2017. The annual amateur ski race will be held in Yekaterinburg’s Akademicheskiy District on Saturday, February 18, RSG-Akademicheskoye’s press service reports. ‘This is the eighth year in a row locals are taking part in this popular and large-scale sports event,’ the press service says. The opening parade will begin in Wilhelm de Gennin St at 11:45 AM, followed by the competition itself. There are six different races to compete in: four children and teens’ races (one kilometer each) and two races for grown-ups (two kilometers each). The family race and the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 20, 2017. The water tower, one of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Omsktransmash’s historic structures, was recently placed on the Omsk Region cultural heritage list, the company’s press service reports. Following an examination by a board of experts, the tower was classed as ‘an important component of the city’s downtown historic architectural landscape.’ The tower hasn’t been operated for over four decades now and currently hosts one of the plant’s documentation center divisions. According to the structure’s technical specifications, the water tower for rail

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 20, 2017. Sverdlovsk Region division of Union of Industrialists & Employers held their annual meeting at Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Culture Palace, the company press service reports. The meeting was chaired by Ural Vagon Zavod Executive Director Vladimir Roschupkin, with thirty union members taking part. Sverdlovsk Region Economics Minister Dmitri Nozhenko, Sverdlovsk Region Deputy Industry & Science Minister Viktoria Kazakova, Gornozavodksoy Manager Evgeny Kayumov, the Union’s Executive Vice President Igor Kudryavtsev, and Mayor of Nizhniy Tagil

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 17, 2017. Rosset’s Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems’ equipment at its 220-kilowatt Vektor Substation in Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous District is now operating within its full workload, the company’s PR Department for Western Siberia reports. The new power substation will be in charge of providing stable power supply to end users in Nefteyugansky Distrct and Rosneft’s RN Yuganskneftegaz. The substation is fitted with 110- and 220-kilowatt outdoor switch gears, a 35-kilowatt indoor switch gear, a general control unit, two 220-/110-kilowatt transformers

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 17, 2017. EVRAZ Holding came up with an investment project for the development of Section 29a in Yesaulskaya Mine; the in-place reserves have been estimated at over 10,000,000,000 kg of valuable GZh coal, the company press service reports. The coal-bearing layer is about 3m thick. Production is expected to take off in the third quarter of 2019, when long-face 29-37 can get started on. This project will require 1bn RUR in investments. ‘The current reserves at Yesaulskaya Mine will get used up in 2.5 years. Switching to a new layer will help us keep both the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 17, 2017. Ural Airlines recently introduced a new flight from Krasnodar to Khabarovsk (with a stopover in Irkutsk) and back, the air carrier’s press service reports. ‘Starting from May 14, 2017, our passengers will be able to enjoy this convenient route at rather appealing prices (all fees included): tickets for Krasnodar-Irkutsk flights start from 13,050 RUR (Promo), those for Krasnodar-Khabarovsk flights start from 13,270 RUR (Promo), and those for Irkutsk-Khabarovsk flights start from 11,250 RUR (one piece of luggage under 23kg included),’ the press service

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 17, 2017. Construction of forty-three apartment buildings had to be halted by Sverdlovsk Region’s developers, Deputy Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Sergey Shvindt said at the regional government’s meeting. ‘As of January 1, 2017, construction of forty-three apartment buildings had to be halted, compared with thirty-six buildings one year earlier,’ Shvindt said. According to the official, 1,97m m2 of new housing will get commissioned in the federal constituency by the end of this year. Now 2,107,500 m2 of new housing got commissioned last year, which was 14.9%

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 17, 2017. Retail trade turnover declined by 7.3% in Ural Federal District in the eleven months of 2016, Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Igor Kholmanskikh says. ‘This is a downward trend typical of all the regions in this district,’ he said. According to the official, locals’ factual incomes also shrank by 8.6% in January-November 2016. ‘Salaries and wages kept on dropping in five regions out of six in this district, with Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Region as the only exception,’ Kholmanskikh pointed out.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 16, 2017. The telecommunications provider MegaFon is launching its new FCM Partner program that will let mobile carriers unite their landline and mobile connection services within one virtual PBX, the company press service reports. Wifire’s NETBYNET was one of the first partners to join the program. The virtual PBX now has much more to offer: the services that only used to be available for landline users can now get connected to mobile phones through MegaFon’s SIM cards. FMC Partner means mobile carriers can unite their own landline services with their mobile

UrBC, Moscow, February 16, 2017. The Russian Government came up with a privatization plan for 2017-2019, their report states. Under the terms of this plan, the state should come to have smaller shareholdings in such market leaders as VTB Bank, Sovkomflot, and Alrosa. ‘The idea is to sell shares of 477 joint stock companies, 298 federal state unitary enterprises, ten limited liability companies, and over a thousand other state-owned assets to private customers,’ the report states. The Russian budget is expected to get 5.6bn RUR in terms of extra revenues every year; this estimate does not take

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 16, 2017. A very limited number of large-scale exhibitions and fairs has grown to become the Mid-Urals’ conference/exhibition sector’s key problem, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s recently adopted program on the development of exhibition/fair/conference sector in Sverdlovsk Region states. ‘Out of all the local exhibition facilities available for renting, only 5% of get used for large-scale events,’ the program states. The program’s authors say that the most successful events are those where a number of different projects unite on a single site in order to attract

UrBC, Moscow, February 16, 2017. Sverdlovsk Region was Russia’s 8th largest car market in January 2017, Avtostat Info reports. 2,228 new automobiles got sold, which was 7.7% more than in January 2016. As for the country on the whole, Russians bought 72,848 new cars, which exceeded the figures for one year earlier by 9.2%. Moscow, with its 11,742 sales deals (-24.2%), remained the largest market as usual. People based in Moscow Region bought the second largest number of cars (5,660, down 14% on last January), those based in Saint Petersburg bought 4,750 new cars (-10.1% on one year earlier).

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 16, 2017. 94,900 m2 worth of new housing got commissioned in Sverdlovsk Region in January 2017, which exceeded the figures for one year earlier by 11%, Sverdlovskstat reports. Also, 50,200 m2 of private houses got put up as well, which was 8.2% more than in January 2016.

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, February 15, 2017. MMK Group carried its annual accounting report (IAS-based) for the year 2016. The company’s net profit rose by over 2.5 times last year against the year 2015 and amounted to $1.11m. The Group’s revenues dropped by 3.6% against the year 2015. ‘This has to do with lower selling prices (-$20 off every 1,000 kg, or down 4.4%) by the end of the year,’ MMK explains. The company’s EBITDA, adjusted against the sale of the remaining stakes in Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), remained nearly the same as in the previous year and came to $1.64m; the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 15, 2017. A military/sports quest called Heroes’ Race will take off at Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant at 3PM on February 22; the event is open to everyone, regardless of where they work, the company press service reports. ‘Ural Vagon Zavod is a socially responsible enterprise that aims to promote a healthier and more active lifestyle. The new quest is a great and interesting opportunity to try yourself out as well as to start doing sports. Heroes’ Race is a 1,000-m long assault course with both natural and artificial obstacles. The organizers are

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 15, 2017. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) and Kachkanar Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise (KGOK) kept investing in working conditions improvements and on-premise repairs last year; some 100 projects were implemented all in all. EVRAZ Holding Ural’s press office reports the two companies spent around 140m RUR on the improvements in employees’ working conditions as set out in their respective Collective Agreements. The positive changes affected 2,500 workers. For one, powerful roof fans were installed at KGOK’s sintering

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 15, 2017. Sinara Group’s Sinara Development is launching special offers on its new homes in Yekaterinburg, the Group’s press service reports. Customers considering a mortgage will be able to benefit from A Year With No Mortgage Offer, which means once the 30% down payment has been made, the next installment will only have to be paid after the apartment building has been commissioned. This means that you can apply for the loan needed to make this payment one year later and thus save money on interest. You can save up to 620,000 RUR on this. Another option is to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 15, 2017. SKB-Bank took part in the International Forum iFin 2017 in Moscow, the bank’s press service reports. SKB-Bank’s Distance Sales Director Konstantin Kotelnikov presented a report on how SKB Online app grew to become the market leader in just one year and is now among Russia’s top three mobile banking apps according to Markswebb. ‘We needed a partner company to meet our technological requirements, which means a modern platform, all the necessary services, good quality tech support, and willingness to share potential risks. We decided on BSS in the end,