UrBC, Moscow, December 14, 2017. 86% of Russians feel they have been affected by the ongoing economic crisis this year, Kommersant refers to the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Sociology Center as stating. 7% of those surveyed said the results of the economic pitfalls were ‘devastating’, 39% of respondents said they were ‘moderate’, and 40% said they were ‘considerable’. 14% of respondents said they didn’t feel the crisis had affected them in any way. The number of Russians who were happy with their financial status dropped by 7%, down to 28%, between 2016 and 2017. 50% of those surveyed

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 13, 2017. EVRAZ Nizhniy Tagil Integrated & Metallurgical Works (NTMK) launched their recently upgraded coke dry-quenching plant in the course of a special solemn ceremony. This project required RUR 175m in investments, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Center reports. The launching ceremony took place at the opening of the 2nd International EcoTech 2017 Forum/Exhibition. The plant got launched by Russia’s Minister for Natural Resources & Environment Sergey Donskoy and EVRAZ Vice President and head of EVRAZ Holding Ural Maxim Andriasov. ‘I would

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 13, 2017. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) presented its environmental responsibility rating for Russia’s mining and metallurgical companies. Russian Copper Company was given the 6th position out 33 this year, which was 8 points better than in 2016. ‘In addition to this main rating, the WWF also evaluated companies in terms of environmental management (with Russian Copper Company coming 4th/5th in the rating), in terms of environmental impact (8th position), and in terms of transparency (6th/8th position),’ the company press service reports. Russian Copper Company

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, December 13, 2017. Russian Copper Company is going to present its environmental projects on restoring the sites and facilities damaged throughout the Soviet era at EcoTech 2017 Forum in Moscow, the company press service reports. The company intends to reclaim an abandoned tailing dump at the former Karabash Copper-Smelting Plant and to refill Korkinsky Mine. The reclamation plan for Karabash’s abandoned tailing dump was officially confirmed through an agreement Karabashmed signed with Russia’s Ministry for Natural Resources & the Environment, Rosprirodnadzor, and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 13, 2017. ChTPZ Group and National University of Science and Technology MISiS signed a ‘roadmap’ on their cooperation in 2018, the company press service reports. The document was signed by the Group’s Director-General Boris Kovalenkov and the university’s Vice-Rector for Educational AffairsVadim Petrov. ‘We have been collaborating with NUST MISIS within the framework of our Leadership program that relies on the university’s Master programs,’ says the Group’s Director-General Boris Kovalenkov. ‘Our company employs dozens of NUST MISIS alumni, many of them in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 13, 2017. 179,000 m2 worth of new housing got commissioned in Sverdlovsk Oblast in November 2017, Sverdlovsk Oblast Information Policy Department refers to Sverdlovskstat as stating. A year earlier, 212,000 m2 worth of new housing got commissioned, which was 15.6% more than in November 2017. As for Yekaterinburg alone, 133,000 m2 of new housing got commissioned there last month (compared with 123,000 m2 commissioned in November 2016). On a yearly scale, 1.6m m2 worth of housing was put up in Sverdlovsk Oblast in January through November 2017, including 101,000 m2

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, December 12, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) completed its purchase of LMK Group’s assets, the company Information, PR & Advertising Department reports. MMK now controls Lysva Metallurgical Company, Lysva Metallurgical Plant, and Insayur-Avtotrail-TL. ‘LMK Group is Russia’s only producer of electrolytically galvanized rolled goods with protective coatings. This produce is popular with carmakers, builders, and machine-builders. The Group makes a wide range of coated metal goods, including Steel Art, a new-generation material with unique consumer

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 12, 2017. Ural Airlines’ Wings Loyalty Club won in the 7th Innovations Time 2017 Contest as Discovery of The Year in Transportation Services, the air carrier’s press service reports. The company introduced a frequent flyer loyalty program slightly over a year ago, offering to convert their bonus points into rubles (which was a true bargain). This was an innovative offer among air carriers. The airline’s Wings Club program is a unique opportunity to book one’s flights at a discount. For every flight they make with Ural Airlines, the club members get bonus points

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 12, 2017. Russian Railways coordinated an open-to-all tender for locomotive delivery and lifetime maintenance contracts on December 4, 2017. According to Sinara Group’s PR Center, their Sinara Transport Machines’ STM Trading House got the second lot in the auction. STM Trading House will now have to supply five Sinara 2ES6 two-section locos made at Ural Locomotives to Kinel Depot before the end of the year. The company will also have to offer full maintenance service for the locos for the next twenty-eight years. The service includes all kinds of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 12, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) keeps expanding its branch network; for one, a new outlet for small and medium enterprises was set up in Omsk recently, the bank’s press service reports. The new branch can be found at 1 Frunze St Bldg 4; the working hours are from 9 AM to 6 PM on weekdays. ‘A SMEs outlet is a bank branch without a cash desk. Businesspeople and companies can open a settlement account here, sign an acquiring contract, open a deposit account, and apply for a corporate bank card. Our employees can also come to a

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 12, 2017. Following Governor of Sverdlovsk Oblast Evgeny Kuivashev’s decree, funds were allocated from the constituency’s budget to design and build a maternity clinic/fertility research center in Yekaterinburg’s Akademicheskiy District, Sverdlovsk Oblast’s Information Policy Department reports. ‘Sverdlovsk Oblast is definitely going to meet the goals set by the President in terms of demographic policy improvements. For one, I asked for funds to be provided from the local budget to design and build a new maternity clinic in Akademicheskiy. This is going to be a

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 11, 2017. EVRAZ Holding coordinated its usual Best Young Worker Contest this year, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Center reports. ‘This year, the contestants competed at EVRAZ Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) in nine different job categories: blast furnace keeper, furnace helper, mill roller, crane operator, maintenance technician, instrumentation and automated control systems technician, assistant locomotive operator, turner, and driver. The theoretical part of the contest included a number of questions relating to people’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 11, 2017. The telecommunications provider MegaFon’s bank card is now eight times more popular in the Urals than at the beginning of the year, with overall turnover at over RUR 300m a month. Locals most typically use the card to pay for their supermarket shopping and to cover restaurant checks, the company press service reports. While food items are on top of the list, gasoline, medicines, mobile devices, car parts, household/remodeling appliances, clothes, taxi rides, and entertainment are also often paid for with MegaFon cards. Taxi fares come the cheapest,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 11, 2017. Metcombank came second in the rating of Russia’s most efficient banks in the three quarters of 2017 according to Kommersant, the bank’s press service reports. The rating was based on the ratio of profits in the first three quarters of the year to the average asset volume in the same year; the rating only touched upon the banks that were among the country’s top hundred as of July 1, 2017. Metcombank actually came 11th in the rating last year. The bank also came 25th in the rating of Russia’s Top 30 most profitable banks, based on its ratio of profits in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 11, 2017. Members of Yekaterinburg Civic Chamber went on a tour of Central Stadium which is currently being reconstructed in time for the World Cup 2018 by Sinara Development, Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. Head of the stadium reconstruction project Sergey Grekhov told the visitors about their progress and the peculiar parameters of the building. Yekaterinburg Arena is now 98% complete, with workers busy finishing the rooms under the spectator stands and introducing navigation signs. All the jobs that are part of the developer’s state contract will have been

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 11, 2017. ChTPZ Group’s Future of White Metallurgy Corporate Training Program won the first prize in the National Professional Qualifications Development Agency’s Best Blue-Collar Job Training Practices 2017 Contest (category: We Are Partners). According to the company press service, the awarding ceremony took place during the 3d All-Russian National Professional Qualifications System Forum in Moscow; the forum is coordinated with support from the Presidential National Council for Professional Qualifications. ‘ChTPZ Group created the public-private cadre training

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 8, 2017. New homes are now offer (prices start from RUR 1.5m) in an apartment building on the river embankment in Yekaterinburg’s Akademicheskiy District, RSG-Akademicheskoye’s press service reports. ‘Even a modestly sized home that is your own, an apartment at a reasonable price is, given the current economic situation, a chance to secure a place to live. The new apartment building has plenty of housing options to choose from, including studio apartments and medium-sized homes, and both traditional and European-style layouts,’ the company’s Sales & Marketing

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 8, 2017. 7,436,013 people flew with Ural Airlines in January-November 2017, which exceeded the figures for one year earlier by 24%. According to the airline’s press service, they operated 51,360 flights between January 1 and November 30, including 30,577 domestic flights, 9,632 flights to and from the CIS member states, and 11,151 international flights. The overall number rose by 18% compared with one year earlier. 576,918 passengers traveled with the airline in November alone, which was 25% more than in November 2016. Ural Airlines operated 4,263 flights last

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 8, 2017. A solemn opening ceremony of a new Children’s Art School took place in Karabash, Chelyabinsk Oblast, on December 6, 2017. Russian Copper Company presented the school with a professional musical instrument as a housewarming gift, the company press service reports. Governor of Chelyabinsk Oblast Boris Dubrovsky congratulated the young art students on the school opening; over RUR 48m were directed from the constituency’s budget to put up a new, three-level building for a school with a sixty years’ history. The new building is big enough for two hundred

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 8, 2017. EVRAZ Holding’s West-Siberian Integrated Metallurgical Works (ZSMK) got its 54E4 and 49Е5 rail profiles certified for compliance with the TSI standards. The certificate means the plant can now supply these rail types to Europe for use at high-speed and regular railroads, EVRAZ Holding Siberia’s corporate relations center reports. 54Е4 and 49Е5 rail profiles are meant for jointed and continuous welded rail tracks as well as for making rail switches. These are lightweight profiles that are also used on public transport, undergrounds, and driveways. ‘We