UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 9, 2018. Members of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) committee said Yekaterinburg looked ready to host large-scale international events such as EXPO 2025, Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. The BIE committee arrived in Yekaterinburg on April 3, 2018 and spent the next two days assessing the city’s potential for hosing EXPO 2025. The delegates then went to Moscow to discuss the results of their inspection with the federal authorities. ‘Our preliminary conclusions look splendid. Holding the event in Yekaterinburg looks expedient

UrBC, Moscow, April 9, 2018. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) committee members on April 5, 2018; the committee came to Russia to see if the applicant city of Yekaterinburg would be ready to host EXPO 2025. ‘We believe an extra 500 meters would be allocated for the event should the exhibition be held in Russia, in Yekaterinburg. I believe you have seen the prospective site: this is a very convenient location between the heart of the city and the airport,’ Vladimir Putin is quoted as saying on his official website. According to Putin, the

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, April 9, 2018. Dōjō Steel, a new Kyokushin and Karate-Do martial arts club, opened in Magnitogorsk with support from Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), the plant’s Information, PR & Advertising Department reports. President of the Russian National Ōyama Kyokushin Karate-Do Federation Alexander Ipatov, the federation’s Vice President and Chair of Coach Committee Karen Gyadukyan, and Chair of Yekaterinburg Kyokushin Federation Denis Kurchanin all came to attend the opening ceremony. The visitors also took a tour of MMK production site. The sportsmen looked at

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 9, 2018. A nationwide project targeted at improving high school students’ financial literacy took off in Yekaterinburg. Financial literacy classes will be coordinated by the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) on the basis of the Bank of Russia’s informational leaflets and visual aids. The event is also supported by Yekaterinburg Department of Education. According to the bank’s press service, the first open-to-public workshop was coordinated at School 104 for twenty-five students in their penultimate year of school today. The bank intends to give

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 5, 2018. Ural Airlines are introducing a new, direct flight from Krasnodar International Airport to Tbilisi on May 24, 2018; the flights will be operated every Thursday and Sunday, the air carrier’s press service reports. Thursday departure time: 6:40 AM (Krasnodar) and 9:55 AM (Tbilisi). Sunday departure time: 3:40 PM (Krasnodar) and 6:55 PM (Tbilisi). The flight takes one hour and twenty minutes and will be operated on Airbus A320 planes. ‘Tbilisi has a lot to offer its visitors: the ancient fortresses, the temples built high up in the mountains, the picturesque

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 5, 2018. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) has been working on Resource Management Personalization Initiative since last year to introduce a system of micro cost centers at the company’s production departments, MMK press service reports. ‘The goal is not so much to save money on energy spending as to establish a closer connection between a worker and a piece of equipment they operate, to make them more aware of their personal contribution to the overall performance and of their importance and responsibility. This works: our departments actually started

UrBC, Moscow, April 5, 2018. A draft bill has recently been placed with the Russian State Duma that proposes banning production and sale (retail and otherwise, except for export purposes) of alcohol bottled in polymeric packaging more than 0.5 liters large. The bill is now available via the State Duma’s electronic database. ‘A ban on selling alcohol in 0.5-liter-plus plastic bottles will help reduce overall alcohol intake and improve the nation’s health,’ legislators believe. Now a ban on selling beer in plastic bottles over 1.5 liters in volume at shops and restaurants was already introduced

UrBC, Moscow, April 5, 2018. Russia’s purchasing manager’s index (PMI) dropped from 56.5 points in February down to 53.7 points in March, Prime refers to the research center Markit as stating. ‘Even through the country’s business activity has slowed down to an eight-month low, it still remains stable. Moreover, the PMI was quite strong in the first three months of the year. Some of our respondents said they had new customers, while their existing ones also proved more active than in the previous months,’ the center is quoted as saying. Anything above 50 points indicates an upward trend,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 5, 2018. Sverdlovsk Region division of the consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor and Sverdlovsk Region Hygiene & Epidemiology Center carried a report on the outcomes of their recent hotline service and a Doors Open days on March 12-26, 2018, Rospotrebnadzor reports. 1,030 locals called the hotline to get their advice that mostly related to sale and purchase of non-food items (49%), housing services (13%), and financial services (10%). The most frequently asked questions were the ones to do with deadlines for handling a customer’s complaint about a newly

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 4, 2018. The online shopping service Mydutyfree and Ural Airlines’ Wings Club will now work as partners, the air carrier’s press service reports. The airline’s Wings Club Loyalty Program members will be able to enjoy an additional discount on things they buy at the airport duty free shops and 3 bonus points for every euro they spend through Mydutyfree. The discount comes to 10% for purchases made at Domodedovo, Kurumoch, and Koltsovo Airports; to 12% at Heydar Aliyev Airport in Baku, and to 15% at Kazan and Irkutsk Airports. The offer may not apply to certain items

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 4, 2018. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) made more than 7,000,000 kg of rolled metal goods for the construction of a new sintering plant at Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), EVRAZ Holding’s PR Department says. The plant mostly supplied H beams and the round bar 150 09G2S to MMK. The goods will be used to make the primary framework: the charge sequencing system, the exhaust and sintering gas reservoir, the buildings for Sintering Machines 1 and 2, the linear coolers, the further charge treatment facility, and the sample

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 4, 2018. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) increased interest rates on deposits available through online and mobile banking apps starting April 2, 2018. The rates went up by 0.25% and thus reach 5.5% to 6% a year, the bank’s press service reports. ‘According to our data, the bank’s customers prefer to manage their finances remotely: the number of active online banking and mobile app users rose by 30% in the last one and a half years. At the same time, the number of online transactions per user has been growing as well: there were an average

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, April 4, 2018. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) directed more than RUR 200m to workers’ (and their families’) healthcare last year; this amount included the cost of children’s stays at summer camps, among other things, MMK Information, PR & Advertising Department reports. ‘8,189 workers and their family members underwent rehabilitation treatment in 2017; 87% of these people were employees proper. The company partially covered the cost of their stays at sanatoriums and health resorts. 65% to 80% of the full amount, depending on the season and the kind of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 4, 2018. Ural Airlines will be operating flights to Simferopol and Sochi from international airports Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, and Zhukovsky, Moscow Region, this spring and summer, the air carrier’s press service reports. In addition to its usual flights from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, Ural Airlines also introduced flights from Moscow’s other air hubs: the airline started operating flights from Sheremetyevo to Sochi and Simferopol on March 25, and flights from Zhukovsky will get launched on May 28, 2018. This means passengers traveling from Moscow will be able to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 3, 2018. Ural Airlines bought this year’s first Airbus 320, the air carrier’s press service reports. VP-BKX is now the airline’s 44th plane, with 162 passengers seats (150 Economy ones and 12 Business ones). The new airplane is suited for both international and domestic flights. The plane performed its maiden flight as U6 1 (Yekaterinburg-Sheremetyevo (Moscow)), as the company started operating flights from Sheremetyevo Airport on March 25. ‘Ural Airlines’ embarked on its fleet renovation program as early as 2006, and has been buying new planes on a yearly basis

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, April 3, 2018. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) is willing to open its production site to tourists, MMK Information, PR & Advertising Department reports. ‘A program for 2019-2025 Rostourism is currently working on would sector the country into a number of tourist clusters; Magnitogorsk, which is located on the border of the highly industrialized Chelyabinsk Region and the mountainous and woods-covered Bashkortostan, could contribute to two different kinds of tourism, that is, industrial travel and sports/healthcare travel. The plant has a number of health

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 3, 2018. Ural Airlines are now selling reduced-price tickets for flights operated to the Far East and Kaliningrad; the cost of the tickets will be partially covered by the government, the air carrier’s press service explains. ‘The offer holds for Russian nationals under 23 years of age, women over 55, men over 60, people with disabilities (Group I) and those accompanying them on their flights, passengers accompanying children with disabilities, and people with lifelong disabilities (Groups II and III). You can also book a subsidized plane ticket if you are under 18

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 3, 2018. The Bureau International des Expositions’ special committee arrives in Yekaterinburg today to do a series of assessments in the next two days to see if the city would be prepared to host the EXPO 2025 Exhibition. According to EXPO 2025 Application Committee, the BIE delegates, headed by the current Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Denmark Choi Jai-chul, will meet with the Russian Government’s highest officials, representatives of federal and local executive branches, civic activists, and members of the business and cultural communities. The inspection

UrBC, Moscow, April 3, 2018. The Russian Government decided on how to distribute the RUR 2.563bn allocated for the construction, assembly, and dismantling of temporary World Football Championship facilities across ten federal constituencies; the information to this extent is available on the Cabinet’s website. ‘A special decree distributes the inter budgetary transfers (RUR 2.563bn altogether) across ten federal constituencies,’ an additional statement on the decree explains. Sverdlovsk Region is to receive RUR 261.734m from the federal budget.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 2, 2018. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) is launching a new strategy for its online banking service development. The bank will introduce a fully functioning service ecosystem for private customers by 2020, the bank’s press service reports. The primary idea is to switch to a completely new approach to remote/online-based services, to ensure personal communication with a customer, and to offer tailor-made products that meet a particular customer’s specific needs. Throughout 2018, when the first stage of the project is to be in progress, the