UrBC, Magnitogorsk, August 25, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) invested 1.64bn RUR in construction and reconstruction of environmental facilities this year, MMK Information & PR Administration reports. This is part of the plant’s annual environmental program designed to reduce the enterprise’s man-made impact; the program involves all of the plant’s production divisions and departments. Most of the steps taken result in achievements comparable with the best international environmental success stories and meet all the requirements for the best green technologies available

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 25, 2017. The number of the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s customers applying for loans online (e-banking and m-banking apps and the company website) rose by 75% compared with the start of the year. 1,100 applications were submitted in July 2017 against only 630 in January, the bank’s press service reports. According to the bank’s Internet Sales Director Denis Tur, the popularity of remote banking services keeps growing, which results in faster development of online banking technologies; these grow increasingly more advanced, customer-friendly,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 25, 2017. Rosset’s Federal Grid Company United Energy System is about to complete preparing all of its electric mains and power facilities in Western Siberia for the upcoming fall/winter season’s maximum workload. The company’s PR & Media Communication Group in Western Siberia reports 924 commutation units have been repaired since the start of the year, as have been 161 km of 110- to 500-kilowatt electric mains; also, 2,300 hectares of line routes. 32 mobile rescue teams were set up to attend to possible emergencies, equipped with 101 special-purpose vehicles.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 25, 2017. EVRAZ Holding’s employees are going to get state, constituency, corporate, and ministerial awards on Miner’s Day. Russian President Vladimir Putin is meeting with the country’s best miners today. Nineteen workers of EVRAZ Raspadskaya Coal Company represent Kemerovo Region at this meeting. According to the company press service, their miners will attend a Governor’s reception in Mezhdurechensk on August 25. Awards will be given out to winners of Kemerovo Region contest - Vadim Volkov’s team from Osinnikovskaya Mine and Kuzbass’s Best Director Alexei

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 25, 2017. Ural Airlines are launching a new, scheduled flight from Yekaterinburg to Verona starting December 30. The flight will be operated every Saturday. Prices start from 14,200 RUR (one way, all fees included) for Promo tickets and from 15,900 RUR (one way, including 1 piece of luggage (up to 23 kg) and 1 set of sports equipment) for Economy tickets. ‘This will be a great destination for winter skiing fans. Some of Italy’s most popular ski resorts with all kinds of pistes as well as good restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues are located just within a few

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 24, 2017. Sinara Group and Siemens’s joint venture Ural Locomotives are going to present their new interregional Lastochka Premium ES2GP electric train at the 6th EXPO 1520 Show on August 30. According to Sinara Group’s press service, the event will be attended by Russian Railways and Federal Passenger Company representatives and Ural Locomotives’ top managers. This enhanced-comfort electric train was designed by Ural Locomotives for intercity travel (200 km or farther). 90% of Lastochka Premium’s components are Russian-made.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 24, 2017. The telecommunications provider MegaFon presents Veterinaria, its new mobile platform aimed at state-run vet clinics; the system is currently unique to Russia, the company press service reports. ‘Starting January 1, 2018, Russia’s vet services will have to switch to Mercury, an electronic veterinary certification system. The solution MegaFon offers will help them comply with the new legislative requirements,’ the press service says. According to the state agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor, 25% out of Sverdlovsk Region’s 70,000 vet clinics have

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 24, 2017. Russian Copper Company’s ORMET (Orsk, Orenburg Region) had its processing plant upgraded and renovated recently. According to the company press service, a new conic mill was installed on the ore dressing site. The mill’s capacity comes to 85 m3 to 140 m3 per hour. This upgrade cost 14.5m RUR to go through with. ‘The new conic mill provides the granulated stuff the plant needs for production purposes as well as reduces the noise and dust levels on the ore dressing site. The old conic mill got pulled down and the new one installed during scheduled repairs,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 24, 2017. 68% of Yekaterinburg residents are prepared for a career change if this brings them better pay, zarplata.ru’s recent survey findings indicate. 47% of those surveyed say they would be willing to move to a different city, 34% of respondents would forego their vacation, and 27% of respondents are ready to do something they have no interest in. ‘About a third of those surveyed are prepared to emigrate for a better-paying job, and every one in four is willing to work seven days a week. Every one in ten respondents would agree to see very little of their

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 24, 2017. Fifty-six hostels fit for up to 1,000 guests currently operate in Yekaterinburg, the city council’s website states. ‘The number is expected to exceed one hundred by 2018, which is important in view of upcoming large-scale national and international events Yekaterinburg is to host,’ the website says. In the meantime, the Russian Government has been considering a ban on hostels in regular apartment buildings for a few years now. A draft bill was heard at the State Duma as early as 2015. However, the market players managed to have the adoption of the bill

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 23, 2017. Sinara Group’s Sinara Development, the general contractor for the reconstruction of Yekaterinburg Stadium in time for the World Cup 2018, is now working to get spectator seats installed in the arena, Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. ‘The stadium will be fitted with vandalism-proof ergonomic plastic seats made from ultraviolet-resistant, corrosion-resistant, cold- and heat-resistant, fireproof materials. All seats got certified for compliance with fire safety, sanitary safety, and overall security requirements. There will be various seat types in the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 23, 2017. The final round of the 6th Corporate International EVRAZ Cup Football Championship took place in Kachkanar last week. The annual event was held on August 13-20. EVRAZ Kachkanar Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise (KGOK) team won the cup for the first time in history. The company press service reports nine teams from the Urals, Siberia, Nakhodka, Moscow, and Ukraine competed for the cup. EVRAZ NTMK beat EVRAZ ZSMK 2:1 to win the third prize, and EVRAZ Ukraine and EVRAZ KGOK competed in the finals (1:1 during the game and 5:4 during penalty kicks). EVRAZ

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 23, 2017. Russian Copper Company’s Novgorod Metallurgical Plant in Velikiy Novgorod completed repairs of its Maerz furnace, the company press service reports. ‘The furnace had to be shut down for scheduled repairs at the end of July. Everything was completed by our own staff ahead of schedule; no outsource contractors were used. We took care of power and mechanical equipment maintenance and checked all the measuring devices and automated appliances. The furnace was fitted with new water jackets and slag valves; additionally, the slag chamber, the exhaust heat

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 23, 2017. SKB-Bank’s representative is going to be on the judges’ panel at Finopolis 2017, a financial startups contest and an important event in the national finance sector, in Sochi this fall, the bank’s press service reports. The startup contest is held during Finopolis Innovative Finance Technologies Forum every year; the event gets coordinated by Russia’s Central Bank. The contesting startups get selected by a judges’ panel comprising representatives of the FinTech Association member banks. Startups can present projects ranging from scoring, biometric, and

UrBC, Moscow, August 23, 2017. The average asking price of a used car came to 535,000 RUR on the Russian market this August, Avtostat reports. This is 5.8% less than in December 2016. It is reported that used car prices kept rising since December 2014, when the average asking price stood at 430,000 RUR and thus increased by a whopping 32% two years later (up to 568,000 RUR). This year, the prices have been gradually going down. Whereas the new car market expanded by 8.5% in the seven months of 2017, the used car market has been stagnating and only grew by 0.8% compared with the start of the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 22, 2017. Russia-based U.S. Consulates will have to have their nonimmigrant visa operations suspended due to the Russian Government-imposed cap on the number of diplomatic personnel they can have, effective August 23, 2017, the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Russia report. According to the Embassy, nonimmigrant visa operations will resume eventually, but on a much more limited scope. Starting September 1, 2017, nonimmigrant visa interviews will only be available in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. The U.S. Consulates in Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and Vladivostok

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 22, 2017. Ural Airlines are offering their customers their new Saint Petersburg-Tenerife flight. The flight will be operated from Pulkovo Airport every Friday starting from October 27, the air carrier’s press service reports. ‘This is a unique destination for Saint Petersburg and a great winter holiday option. Tickets are already on offer,’ the press service says. The Spanish island of Tenerife is known as the ‘Island of Eternal Spring’ where the weather is nice any time of the year. The southern part of the island is perfectly suited for beach holiday-making,

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, August 22, 2017. Russian Copper Company Boxing Promotion is going to coordinate a large-scale boxing competition in Chelyabinsk on Town Day. The event is supported by Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Boris Dubrovsky, the company press service reports. ‘There will be boxing fights in several sports categories at Tractor Arena on September 9. Four professional boxing fights are expected to be the key feature of the night, with Muay Thai and amateur boxing fights to follow. Chelyabinsk residents will be able to support their local sportsmen there,’ the press service says. The

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 22, 2017. A five-meter-large panorama of Yekaterinburg’s snow-covered downtown is now on display next to Passage Shopping Mall entrance, Obschestvo Malysheva 73’s press service reports. It took the local artist Sergey Kiyanitsa over six months to complete the work. The panorama features the city’s main square with a New Year’s Tree in the center, the town hall building, Lenin Avenue, and Central Department Store. It was Senator Arkadiy Chernetsky’s idea to place the painting on one of the centrally located buildings after he saw the work at Innoprom Exhibition in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 22, 2017. Visitors to and residents of Yekaterinburg spent over 2.8m minutes on the phone on Town Day, which equals to about five years’ worth of ongoing conversations. Local subscribers made more than 7.5m phone calls, which was 20% more than one year previously, while their Internet traffic rose by as much as 70% against last year, MegaFon’s press service reports. The company subscribers mostly made calls to Moscow, Moscow Region, and Saint Petersburg. Ivanovo, Pskov, Rostov Region, and Krasnodar Territory were also among the most popular long-distance call