UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 5, 2018. Four of KORTROS Group’s current construction projects got nominated for the annual RREF AWARDS event; the online voting procedure took off on September 3, 2018. KORTROS Group competes in eight different categories: Comfortable Environment (Moscow), Apartments (Moscow), Best Condominium (Business/Elite) Comfortable Environment (non-Moscow locations), Discovery of The Year, Developer of The Year, and Reputation & Trust,’ the Group’s press service reports. The apartment building Dom Serebryany Bor has been nominated for Comfortable Environment

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 5, 2018. Applicants based in Nizhniy Tagil and Kachkanar, Sverdlovsk Region, are invited to submit their grant applications for EVRAZ Holding’s social projects contest starting September 15, 2018. The company intends to direct RUR 6.5m for the grant funding, which is actually more than in the previous years. According to EVRAZ Holding Ural’s PR Department, the contest is open to non-profit NGOs, city-run and private educational, medical, and social establishments; culture and sports organizations; groups of locals and private individuals (as long as their

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 5, 2018. Ural Airlines are now offering their customers state-subsidized tickets for Simferopol flights, the air carrier’s press service reports. Prices start from RUR 4,250 (one way) for Barnaul-Simferopol flights and from 4,250 RUR for Simferopol-Barnaul flights; these will be operated on October 13, 2018. Prices start from RUR 4,250 (one way) for Kemerovo-Simferopol flights (these will be operated on September 22-October 13, 2018) and from RUR 4,250 for Simferopol-Kemerovo flights. (These will be operated on October 13, 2018). Prices start from RUR 5,500 (one

UrBC, Moscow, September 5, 2018. Russia’s Central Bank reports a number of factors have been pushing the authority to consider an increase in the key rate. The decision will be made by the bank’s Board of Directors, TASS refers to Head of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina as stating. The last time the bank increased the key rate was in December 2014. ‘There are few factors in favor of reducing the key rate at the moment. There is quite a number of factors in favor of keeping the status quo, and there are also some factors in favor of ‘beginning to consider’ an increase,’ Nabiullina is

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 4, 2018. 400 school-leavers got enrolled on ChelPipe Group’s Future of White-Coated Metallurgy Corporate Training Program this year; this is the highest number of new students in the education project’s entire history, the Group’s press service reports. The eighth enrollment campaign covered nine different blue-collar job qualifications to be mastered at Pervouralsk Metallurgical School and Pervouralsk Polytechnic in Sverdlovsk Region. 758 applicants competed for the 400 student openings available. Automobile Maintenance & Repairs proved the most popular

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 4, 2018. Ural Airlines are getting ready for winter with a special offer on their flights from Moscow and Saint Petersburg to Germany, the air carrier’s press service reports. The special price applies to flights to be operated between September 10, 2018 and March 28, 2019 if you book on the company website www.uralairlines.com, through Ural Airlines app, or at any booking office. This is a limited offer. The offer holds for the following flights: Moscow-Munich-Moscow (prices start from €138); Saint Petersburg-Frankfurt-Saint Petersburg (€172). All fees and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 4, 2018. Ural Airlines are now offering their customers an opportunity to fly to and from the Far East using their state-subsidized plane tickets, the air carrier’s press service reports. Reduced-price tickets are available for the following flights: Blagoveshchensk-Moscow-Blagoveshchensk/Moscow-Blagoveshchensk-Moscow (prices start from RUR 6,400); Blagoveshchensk-Saint Petersburg/Saint Petersburg-Blagoveshchensk (RUR 6,500); Blagoveshchensk-Sochi/Sochi-Blagoveshchensk (RUR 9,500); Blagoveshchensk-Simferopol/Simferopol-Blagoveshchensk (RUR 9,800);

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, September 4, 2018. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Group directed over RUR 1.1bn to social projects and charity initiatives in the first half of the year, which was 8% more than one year previously, MMK Information & PR Department reports. Charity projects aimed at old-age retirees and people with disabilities have always been the ones with the biggest funding: MMK Group allocated some RUR 530 for these program types in the first half of 2018 (around RUR 400m out of which amount got supplied by the parent company). Around RUR 200m got allocated for

UrBC, Moscow, September 4, 2018. Russians surveyed in August say they expect the inflation rate to reach 9.9% in the next twelve months, a comment on Central Bank’s website claims. ‘People’s inflation expectations remained nearly the same in August 2018 as in last September and October: the estimate is 9.9% for the next twelve months (compared with 9.7% in July 2018),’ the comment states. Respondents now refer to inflation as the reason behind growing gasoline prices less frequently than before; however, the weakening of the Russian ruble and the recent VAT increase are quoted more often.

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, September 3, 2018. 527,955,000 kg of rolled metal goods got made at hot-roll Mill 2000 at Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK); this set a new monthly output record for the facility, the company’s press service reports. The last time a production record was set at MMK’s most efficient facility was in May, when 527,505,000 kg of hot-rolled goods were manufactured. MMK’s Mill 2000 got launched in 1994 and is now one of Russia’s most powerful hot-roll units. The mill is located at MMK’s Sheet-Rolling Department 10; the facility had to undergo large-scale upgrades and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 3, 2018. Ural Airlines are now offering their customers reduced-price tickets for Yekaterinburg-Bangkok flights, with prices starting from RUR 18,499 (one way), the air carrier’s press service reports. The flights will be operated based on the travelers’ preferences, that is, between October 28, 2018 and March 30, 2019. The price quoted includes all fees and charges but is, however, subject to change depending on the exchange rate. Flight U6 755 Yekaterinburg-Bangkok gets operated on Sundays and Tuesdays (departure: 9 PM; arrival: 12:45 PM the following day);

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 3, 2018. A special offer for groups flying to Tel Aviv is available from Ural Airlines now, the air carrier’s press service reports. The offer applies to flights to be operated between October 10, 2018 and March 28, 2019; the number of groups per flight is to get regulated at the airline’s discretion. Prices start from RUR 15,880 for Saint Petersburg-Tel Aviv-Saint Petersburg flights; from RUR 19,089 for Yekaterinburg-Tel Aviv-Yekaterinburg flights; from RUR 17, 200 for Zhukovsky-Tel Aviv-Zhukovsky flights; from RUR 19,089 for Samara-Tel Aviv-Samara flights;

UrBC, Astana, September 3, 2018. ChelPipe Group and KurganStalMost supplied the materials necessary to put up Peace Wall Monument in Kazakstan; the unveiling ceremony took place in Astana recently and got attended by President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, the Group’s press service reports. ChelPipe Group’s pipes were used by KurganStalMost to build a metal frame that now forms the foundation of the petal, Peace Wall’s key feature. The monument is meant as a present to Astana from Aktyubinsk Region on the former’s 20th ‘birthday’. ChelPipe Group made weld-less, heavy-duty pipes suited

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 3, 2018. EVRAZ Holding supported the 7th International Piano Contest for the first time this year; the contest took off in Yekaterinburg on August 31, 2018 and will round up on September 14, the holding’s press service reports. Forty-four pianists from Russia, England, France, Switzerland, Poland, Israel, China, South Korea, and Kazakhstan will be competing in this Vera Lotar-Shevchenko-dedicated event. Concerts will be held in several venues: P.I. Tchaikovsky Music School, Sverdlovsk Philharmonic, M.P. Mussorgsky Ural State Conservatoire, and Yeltsin Center’s

UrBC, Moscow, August 31, 2018. Russia’s Federal Tax Service is now allowed to freeze sole traders’ and companies’ bank accounts if they fail to make their insurance premium payments on time; the amendments to Russia’s Tax Code come into effect on August 30, 2018. ‘No account-freezing sanctions will get imposed on any private individual who is not a sole trader and is under no obligation to pay the insurance premiums. No amendments have been made to the Tax Code in this respect,’ Federal Tax Service told RIA Novosti. It was pointed out once again that the fiscal authorities got granted no

UrBC, Moscow, August 31, 2018. According to the National Credit History Bureau’s press service, a consumer loan issued in Russia gets paid out in 3.83 years on average as of QII’18, which is 5.5 months, or 13.4% longer than one year earlier (when the loan period was 3.38 years long on average). The bureau says the loan period extended the most where the smallest consumer loans (under RUR 100,000) are involved: the increase was by ten months, or 39.9%. The largest consumer loans (over RUR 500,000), on the other hand, now get repaid only slightly more slowly than earlier: the increase was by

UrBC, Moscow, August 31, 2018. It is estimated that the Russian Federation’s budget will incur RUR 3.2 trillion in losses after the recent pension reform adjustments have shifted the retirement age for women from 63 to 60, Interfax refers to Russian Vice Premier Tatiana Golikova as stating. Giving up on the idea of women applying for state pension at 63 rather than 60 states for RUR 3.2 trillion money-wise, Golikova said. According to Golikova, the proposal to raise the retirement age for women resulted in backlash felt keenly during the ensuing discussions, given that ‘historically, back in

UrBC, Moscow, August 31, 2018. Pharmaceutical products cost RUR 185.1 per unit/pack on average on the Russian retail market last month; this was 0.8% more than in June 2018, DSM Group’s analysts report. The country’s pharmaceutical market amounted to RUR 75 bn in July 2018 all in all, which exceeded the figures for one year previously by 4.7%. The market also expanded by 3.8% in ruble terms in January-July 2018 compared with one year earlier. The national food supplement market lost 0.4% of its financial worth in July 2018 compared with June 2018 and thus dropped down to RUR 3.8bn. The market

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 31, 2018. 66% of Yekaterinburg’s residents who took part in a recent opinion survey said they would be willing to leave Russia for another country for good, provided they had a good job offer there. 6% of respondents are already employed abroad, zarplata.ru reports after having surveyed 1,140 locals. 88% of those surveyed feel positive about labor migration and believe one should use the opportunity of emigrating if it arises. 12% of respondents, on the other hand, are confident one should stay and work for the good of one’s home country. 66% of respondents

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 30, 2018. Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems installed new transformer units at its 220-kilowatt Mirage Power Substation in Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region, the company’s Western Siberia branch’s PR & Media Relations Department reports. ‘The new equipment is meant to improve the precision of our energy-spending data and to ensure a more reliable power supply to end users (including Rosneft’s member enterprises). 27 new gas-insulated transformer units have been installed at the station all in all,’ the department says. Additionally, a new battery and