UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 11, 2018. ChelPipe Group and the state-run organization RusEduFund signed a cooperation agreement at Innoprom 2018 Exhibition in Yekaterinburg. The agreement was signed by ChelPipe Chair of the BOD Andrei Komarov and the foundation’s Director-General Marina Rakova. According to ChelPipe Group’s press service, the agreement is expected to promote the development and launch of advanced educational projects as well as support children’s tech development and the Russian youth’s R&D efforts. One project will be dedicated to setting up a children’s tech park in

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, July 11, 2018. MMK Group’s Ogneupor completed the overhaul of its Rotary Furnace 2 at the Chamotte Ware Department ahead of schedule, MMK Group’s Information & PR Department reports. The department in question makes chamotte that is used for making refractory items. The overhaul began as early as the end of April and was to have been completed in forty-five days, but everything was actually ready by June 5. The plant provided enough chamotte beforehand to supply to Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), the main customer of refractories, and to the external

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 11, 2018. Rosstandart imposed RUR 28m worth of fines on Russian filling stations in the first half of the year — all of them to do with poor quality fuel, head of Rosstandart Alexei Abramov told reporters at Innoprom Exhibition. ‘It took us quite a while to convince everyone that turnover-based fines would solve the fuel market’s problem. And it looks like we hit the nail on the head,’ Abramov said. According to Abramov, this year’s fines already exceeded the overall amount imposed on offenders in 2017. Shell had to pay the largest fines, as three of its stations had

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, July 10, 2018. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works’ (MMK) steel-smelting facility was set up eighty-five years ago this month, the company’s Information & PR Department reports. ‘The plant’s first open-hearth furnace produced its very first batch of steel on July 8, 1933. This marked the beginning of MMK’s steel-smelting plant that came to play a big part in the company’s history and also added quite a few glorious pages to the entire country’s chronicles,’ MMK says. MMK’s steel was used for construction projects of the first Soviet five-year plans, for making shells

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 10, 2018. Ural Airlines will be operating additional flights from Yekaterinburg to Blagoveshchensk and back between July 6 and September 16, 2018; the flights will be operated every Friday and Saturday, the air carrier’s press service says. You can also reach Blagoveshchensk from Moscow, with a stopover in Yekaterinburg: Moscow-Yekaterinburg-Blagoveshchensk flight will be operated every Saturday between July 14 and September 20, 2018. ‘Blagoveshchensk is one of the socially important destinations alongside a number of other cities and towns in Russia’s Far East.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 10, 2018. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) recently reduced its business loan refinancing rates, so borrowers can now apply for a refinancing scheme at only 9.5% a year. The refinancing limit stands at RUR 30m, with the repayment period of up to five years. However, the repayment period can get extended in some cases. You can provide your real estate, automobiles, and other assets (excluding actual goods) as loan security. The offer only holds for three months between July 2 and September 30, 2018. This refinancing option is one way to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 10, 2018. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) coordinated an environmental guided tour of its production premises for the town locals. According to the company press service, the plant got visited by Nizhniy Tagil Duma deputies, representatives of environmental and civic organizations, employees of local industrial enterprises, and local medical clinics’ staff. The visitors got to look at the new Blast Furnace 7 and the plant’s converter and wheelband-making departments and met the plant’s Managing Director Alexei Kushnarev. There was

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, July 10, 2018. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), Chelyabinsk Region’s Investment Development Agency, RusFoundryConsult, and the Czech Republic’s SEEIF Ceramic, a. s. signed a cooperation agreement during Innoprom 2018 International Industrial Exhibition in Yekaterinburg. According to MMK Group’s press service, the agreement was signed by MMK Director-General Pavel Shilyayev, Chelyabinsk Region’s Investment Development Agency’s Director Alexei Bobov, RusFoundryConsult’s Director Maxim Sudakov, and Director of SEEIF Ceramic Tomáš Stoszek. ‘The agreement covers a

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 9, 2018. ChelPipe Group is going to take part in Innoprom 2018 International Industrial Exhibition in Yekaterinburg on July 9-12, the company press service reports. The Group’s shareholders Andrei Komarov and Alexander Fedorov and Managing Director of member enterprise Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant Alexei Dronov will represent their company at the event. The goal is to have talks with government officials and business community members, sign a number of non-profit cooperation agreements to do with educational projects, and contribute to the event’s business agenda. For

UrBC, Moscow, July 9, 2018. The difference in the average incomes of Russia’s richest and poorest nationals keeps decreasing for the second year in a row; it amounted to 15.3 times at the end of last year, head of Rosstat Alexander Surinov told Rossiyskaya Gazeta. According to Surinov, the difference was as 15.7 times in 2015 and 15.5 times in 2016. He also said 13.2% of Russians were living on less than a minimum daily wage by the end of 2017.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 9, 2018. The Bank of Russia is going to coordinate a series of trainings for small and medium enterprises this July, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation’s Ural branch’s press service reports. The workshops will be delivered at the site of Innoprom 2018 International Industrial Exhibition on July 12, 2018. ‘Experts from the Bank of Russia, Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Economics & Territorial Development, the Business Development Foundation, Moscow Exchange, and a number of for-profit banks, micro-financing institutions, and insurance companies will speak

UrBC, Moscow, July 9, 2018. Russia imported 14.7% more goods from non-NIS member states in the first half of the year compared with one year previously, the Federal Customs Service reports. ‘Based on our preliminary statistical data, the import of goods from the EU, the United States, and other non-NIS member states amounted to $103.237bn in January-June 2018, which exceeds the figures for one year earlier by 14.7%,’ the service says. As for June 2018 alone, the imports from the non-NIS member states amounted to $18.871bn, which is 3.6% more than in May 2018 and 5.6% more than in June 2017.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 9, 2018. The demand for plane tickets to Russian cities hosting the World Football Championship 2018 games rose by 6% on average and as much as tripled for certain destinations during the championship days, the flight aggregator Aviasales’ press service reports. ‘It was determined with certainty that the price of air travel to Saransk, Volgograd, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Kaliningrad, and Samara got affected by football events. One day before or on the day of a game scheduled to take place in a certain location, customers searched for plane tickets to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 6, 2018. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s corporate customers can now use both Light and Pro versions of their online banking package with a fully operational mobile app to go with it. Companies’ top managers can also make payments and manage the business’s finances right from their smartphone. ‘UBRD Light App will appeal to even the pickiest customers thanks to its one-tap log in options: you don’t have to enter your passwords any more, as almost effortless fingerprint identification works instead,’ the bank’s press service says. UBRD Lights

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, July 6, 2018. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) keeps working together with Oracle and has chosen the latter as its strategic partner in the Industry 4.0 Project for the next five years, the company press service reports. MMK Group’s business processes will get optimized and united through a single corporate information system to ensure much better efficiency for Russia’s leading metal maker. The two parties’ large-scale cooperation program also covers some options for using Oracle Cloud services on an industrial scale. MMK intends to upgrade its corporate

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, July 6, 2018. South Urals Chamber of Commerce & Industry had its quality management system re-certified for compliance with the national GOST standards and international ISO 9001-2015 standards once again, the chamber’s press service reports. The chamber launched its quality management system in 2005. Four re-certification audits have been carried out since then, with auditors competing on the system’s flawless performance every time. ‘We haven’t once found any discrepancy as regards the national standards; the CCI has outstanding expertise in the field of quality

UrBC, Moscow, July 6, 2018. 89% of Russians are not in favor of raising men’s retirement age to 65 and 90% are opposed to raising women’s retirement age to 63, according to Levada Center’s recent survey findings. 70% and 73% of respondents, respectively, said they felt strongly against it, and only 7% to 8% of those surveyed said they supported the new legislature. Most respondents (87% and 84%, respectively) believe the current retirement age (60 for men and 55 for women) is the best possible option. Only 13% to 14% of those surveyed believe it’s also possible to retire later, but they

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 6, 2018. Ural Airlines now operate a direct flight between Chelyabinsk and Harbin; the maiden flight took place on July 4, 2018, and the plane was nearly fully booked. According to the air carrier’s press service, over 140 passengers flew from Harbin to Chelyabinsk. The flight gets operated on Airbus 320 planes (both Business and Economy seats available) every Wednesday. ‘Flights to China are seen as one of the company’s priorities. The airline keeps introducing new flights from different parts of Russia to China in order to improve our partnership with the People’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 5, 2018. Obuv Rossii Group, the Russian fashion retail giant, and the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) signed an agreement: the bank now opens a credit line (RUR 1bn) for the company for the next two years, the bank’s press service reports. The money will be directed to funding the Group’s current business operation, including its retail network expansion. ‘The UBRD and Obuv Rossii have been partners since 2012, and it is with pleasure that we keep on working with one of the country’s leading banks. The bank’s funding is an important factor for

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 5, 2018. The number of MegaFon.TV’s online movie theater users rose by 85% since the beginning of the year, MegaFon’s press service reports. According to the Cinema Foundation of Russia, viewers now tend to watch Russian movies more often: 34.8m people have watched new releases in the first half of the year, which is 50% more than one year previously. ISPs and mobile carriers report the same: MegaFon.TV’s mobile app now features Russian movies rather than international blockbusters in its user rating. In May and June, MegaFon.TV users (both mobile app and