UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 28, 2017. Sverdlovsk Oblast Arbitration Court declared Rezh Stone-Crushing Plant (RKDZ) bankrupt, the court reports state. The plant was set up in Rezh, Sverdlovsk Oblast, and registered in Yekaterinburg in 2009. The business mainly deals in cutting and treatment of stones. The insolvency claim against the plant was placed with the court by Ural Granite Company in April 2017. It was determined in the course of the hearing that creditors’ claims amounted to RUR 55.418m and the defendant was unable to pay in time. Sverdlovsk Oblast Arbitration Court ruled that the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 27, 2017. Ural Airlines are offering tickets for all of their flights at a 30% discount for its Wings Club members, the air carrier’s press service reports. New club members can use the 30% discount right away and enjoy the 1,000-ruble welcome bonus as well; the bonus is granted as soon as you register with the club, which can be done on the company website www.uralairlines.com. The offer holds on November 24-26, 2017 for all flights to be operated between November 24, 2017 and March 27, 2018 (except for the slot between December 25, 2017 and January 15, 2018).

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 27, 2017. Pervouralsk is hosting ChTPZ Group’s 15th Snezhnost Charity Festival with support from Sverdlovsk Oblast Government, the Group’s press service reports. The festival plays will be performed at Pervouralsk New Plant Culture Palace and Innovative Culture Center. Snezhnost will open with a musical called Look At Me Flying! at Pervouralsk New Plant Culture Palace on December 14. Children from Chelyabinsk, Miass, Kopeisk, and smaller settlements in Chelyabinsk Oblast will act as the primary performers in the musical. The young actors will act out a story of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 27, 2017. SKB-Bank was among the country’s top fifty banks according to Kommersant Publishing House’s rating; the rating comprised all banks located outside of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. SKB-Bank also came fourth in the rating of largest non-capital banks on the consumer lending market, the bank’s press service reports. SKB-Bank was given the 26th position in the overall national rating based on the amount of consumer loans issued by October 1, 2017. The bank’s retail loan book exceeded RUR 59bn. According to Kommersant, Russian banks’ consumer lending output

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 27, 2017. Rosatom TVEL’s Ural Electrochemical Combine co-funded a ‘smart savings clinic’ program in Novouralsk, the company representative Konstantin Grabelnikov said in the course of a recent press tour. The project is being implemented by Russia’s Healthcare Ministry in a number of pilot towns (mostly the ones with nuclear power facilities), including Novouralsk, since June 1, 2017. ‘The town’s old healthcare system wasn’t efficient enough, which meant there was a long wait for the patients. It was suggested that we could organize the process along the lines of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 27, 2017. The amount of debt owed to Sverdlovsk Oblast-based businesses in government and municipal contracts went down from RUR 1.2bn to RUR 600m, the local public prosecution authorities report. ‘Still, things look difficult for the healthcare establishments, as these still owe their contractors over RUR 215m,’ the authorities say. The debt amounts are at their largest in Nizhniy Tagil (RUR 174m), Yekaterinburg (RUR 45.5m), Aramil (RUR 50.8m), Tugulym (RUR 40m), Asbest (RUR 10m), and Nizhnyaya Tura (RUR 16m). ‘For one, we managed to reduce the debts owed to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 24, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) looked into the results of its Children Believe in Miracles Charity Program in the first half of the year. The bank coordinated 53 charity events and directed over RUR 3.7m to support orphaned children and children with disabilities. According to the bank’s press service, some of the money got spent on supplies for live-in schools, social centers, and creches for children without parents. ‘We bought necessary things like game appliances, furniture, school supplies, hygienic items, sports

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 24, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) recently launched a new credit card with a 120-day grace period. The demand for the new product proved twice as high as that for any other bank cards within the first forty-eight hours of the launch date, the bank’s press service reports. ‘The demand was so high because of the advantages the new credit card has to offer. The card was developed with all the latest trends in mind: the grace period applies to all types of transactions, and you get 1% in cash back options on everything,’ the press

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 24, 2017. Rosset’s Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems introduced 126 megawatts worth of extra electric power supply to Uvatskiy group of deposits in Tyumen Oblast. The jobs were part of the agreement on connecting the power facilities of RN Uvatneftegaz to the United Energy Systems, FGC UES’s PR & Media Group in Western Siberia reports. The company’s 500-kilowatt Demyanskaya Substation (transformer capacity: 1,256.6 MVA) was launched in 1969. The station is one of the key power hubs in Tyumen Oblast that ensures power transit from the 500-kilowatt

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 24, 2017. Sverdlovsk Oblast residents using micro-financing services borrowed RUR 10,067 on average in the third quarter of the year, which exceeded the figures for one year earlier by 24.5%, National Credit History Bureau reports. The increase was most pronounced in Krasnodar Territory (+55.9%), Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region (+35.5%), Novosibirsk Oblast (+32.2%), and Bryansk Oblast (+25.1%). The average loan amount actually went down in Volgograd Oblast (-3.9%), Moscow Oblast (-0.7%), and Moscow (-0.4%). ‘The average micro-loan amount keeps rising in all

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 24, 2017. Yekaterinburg’s hunting supply stores are already looking at the losses they are likely to incur during the upcoming World Football Championship 2018, as there will be a ban on selling guns at that time. Stary Slon’s representatives told UrBC the ban falls right on the seasonal sale increase period. ‘People hunt ducks in the spring, and then sales usually peak in the summer throughout early fall. There’s nothing of the sort to be expected with this ban in place. Most likely, our only revenues will come from optical appliances and knives,’ the store

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 23, 2017. Managers of Russian Copper Company won Sverdlovsk Oblast Awards for their contribution to the area’s socioeconomic development, the company press service reports. The solemn awarding ceremony for Russian Federation Awards, Russia’s President Awards, and Sverdlovsk Oblast Awards took place in Yekaterinburg on November 21, 2017. Thirty-nine representatives of the Urals’ business community, medical and educational establishments, charity organizations, culture organizations, and financial entities were on the list of awardees. Russian Copper Company

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 23, 2017. The telecommunications provider MegaFon’s engineers launched second- and third-generation HD Voice technology in Sverdlovsk Oblast. HD Voice allows for better transfer of a particular speaker’s voice, their tone and intonation, as the available frequency range now comes to as much as 7,000 Herz. Thanks to this expanded audio transfer channel, the sound comes out more realistic and ‘live’, MegaFon’s press service reports. HD Voice is supported by most smartphones and turns on automatically. You can enjoy better conversation quality with both MegaFon

UrBC, Orsk, November 23, 2017. Russian Copper Company’s Orenburg Oblast-based asset ORMET completed the construction of Dzhusinsky underground mine by 90% so far. According to Russian Copper Company’s press service, the only jobs left to do before the commissioning are assembling the outer electric grids and doing the startup routines for all the facilities. These are the tasks the workers will concentrate on in the next one and a half months. Dzhusinsky is being put up in place of Dzhusinsky sulphide poly-metallic ore deposit in Adamovsky District, Orenburg Oblast. The deposit was an

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, November 23, 2017. Director of First Freight Company’s Chelyabinsk subsidiary Vladimir Terekhov came up with a performance report for the ten months of 2017, the company press service reports. Terekhov pointed out that they managed to cut down the idle time of their railcars by 73% (down to 243 units) this year thanks to more efficient collaboration with other players in the freight forwarding business. ‘A railcar turnover is the primary indicator of how efficiently a company’s rolling stock gets used, so increasing these turnover figures is key to obtaining some extra

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, November 23, 2017. ChTPZ Group is going to hold its 15th Snezhnost Theater Festival on December 8-19, the company press service reports. This year, plays will be performed in Chelyabinsk, Pervouralsk, Almetyevsk, and — for the first time — Ozersk, Chelyabinsk Oblast. This charity project takes off at M.I. Glinka Chelyabinsk State Academic Opera & Ballet Theater with a family musical called Look At Me Flying! Young performers from the children’s musical school, directed by Russia’s Honored Performer Boris Kaplun and assisted by professional actors, will act out a musical

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, November 22, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) won the Priority 2017 Import Substitution Contest in Metallurgy for developing its high quality zinc-coated rolled produce facilities. According to MMK Information, PR & Advertising Department, the awarding ceremony took place in Moscow on November 17 and was attended by the Russian Government officials, State Duma deputies, Chamber of Commerce & Industry representatives, and members of other organizations and departments. MMK launched its Continuous Hot-Dip Galvanizing Unit 3 last summer and thus

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 22, 2017. Rosset’s Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems coordinated an electric safety workshop for Ministry of Emergencies representatives in Western Siberia. ‘Our power technicians talked about the specifics of putting out fire at electrical units that cannot get disconnected during a fire. This special information allowed the firefighting teams to come up with an improved action plan for possible fires at power facilities, says FGC UES Western Siberia’s PR & Media Group. The workshop was held at the company’s Training Center. The electric equipment

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 22, 2017. The telecommunications provider MegaFon’s rural subscribers proved active Internet users and online game players, MegaFon Ural’s press service reports. ‘Interestingly, our customers based in smaller settlements downloaded five times more data than large city dwellers in the last two months. Russian-language social networks Odnoklassniki and VKontakte are their two most popular services. Users mostly look for jokes, health information, and current events in the country; the peak surfing time is from 8 to 9 PM every night,’ says MegaFon Ural Technical

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 22, 2017. Ural Airlines are opening a new Moscow-Tyumen-Moscow flight, the air carrier’s press service reports. The flight will be operated every day starting from February 18, 2018. The in-flight time is two hours and thirty-five minutes; the plane takes off in Moscow at 11 PM and arrives in Tyumen at 3:35 AM; the return flight departs from Tyumen at 8 AM and arrives in Moscow at 9 AM. You can now use the company’s special offer and book tickets for as little as RUR 3,200 (one way, all fees included). ‘The new flight is a great opportunity to plan a holiday trip