UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 11, 2017. Ural Airlines are offering a new flight to Sochi starting from May 2, 2017 to ensure safe transfer of Ural Club football team to the final round of their championship to Sochi, the air carrier’s press service reports. The final game will be played at Fisht Stadium on May 2. The direct Yekaterinburg-Sochi flight is scheduled to depart at 8 AM and to arrive in Sochi at 9:20 AM. This is a convenient timetable that gives the club supporters a chance to be with their team at the stadium. Prices start from 8,000 RUR (one way, all fees included). The flight to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 10, 2017. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant’s Personnel Training Center is going to host Total Dictation for the second time this year, the company press service reports. The event will start at 1:00 PM on April 8. The participants will be invited to write down a text written by the Russian writer and Big Book Prize winner Leonid Yuzefovich. ‘The event is coordinated by Ural Vagon Zavod’s youth organization. 150 people are expected to show up at our Personnel Training Center at 28/1 Vostochnoye Rd. The two rooms are fitted with all the necessary equipment to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 10, 2017. The number of point-of-sale terminals that now accept the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s credit/debit cards went up by 15% last year. According to the bank’s press service, the number of terminals thus rose by 3,000 units. ‘Retail businesses no longer wonder whether they actually need an acquiring terminal. Since we can offer speedy service, good prices, and flexible terms and conditions to businesses, our bank is now the acquiring market leader in Ural Federal District,’ says Head of UBRD Remote Services Center Ilya Skvortsov. The Bank

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 10, 2017. Ural Airlines are opening three new direct flights from Kemerovo to Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Simferopol, the air carrier’s press service says. Starting from April 24, 2017, the airline will be operating its Kemerovo-Moscow-Kemerovo flight at 8:00 AM daily. Starting from April 28, 2017, Kemerovo-Saint Petersburg flights will be available every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Starting from May 25, 2017, Ural Airlines will be operating its Kemerovo-Simferopol flights on Thursday and Sunday mornings.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 10, 2017. Ural Airlines offer their regular customers a 10% discount on flights from Moscow to Chita, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Ulan Ude, Kemerovo, Barnaul, Omsk, Tomsk, and back, the air carrier’s press service says. The offer holds both for passengers traveling from the country’s capital and for those flying from Vladivostok and Irkutsk to Khabarovsk and those flying from Saint Petersburg to Kaliningrad. The special price is only offered to the airline’s Wings Club loyalty scheme members. The flights will be operated between April 10, 2017 and May 20, 2017 and between

UrBC, Moscow, April 10, 2017. Russian banks issued 5.3 trillion RUR worth of loans to small enterprises last year, which was 3% less than one year previously, Kommersant refers to Expert RA as stating. In 2015, however, the drop was much more noticeable and came to as much as 28% against the year 2014, with the loan book plummeting by 9%, down to 4.5 trillion RUR (a three-year low). It is reported that, were it not for the special preferential terms lending programs such as Program 6.5% (the Central Bank lends to other banks at 6.5% a year, the banks then lend to medium and small enterprises

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 7, 2017. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Electromachine recently hosted a meeting on the development of a production roadmap for the entire set of the corporation’s member enterprises. According to the holding’s press service, the goal is to optimize the production process and make it more efficient. The meeting was attended by representatives of the corporation’s fourteen member enterprises. Reports were made on the launch of lean production principles on sites, followed by a tour of Electromachine’s primary production departments. Roadmap currently comprises four

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 7, 2017. Alexei Merzlyakov was recently appointed the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s Marketing Director, the bank’s press service reports. Merzlyakov will be in charge of developing the bank’s marketing strategy, promoting its products and services, and shaping the bank’s market position. Prior to this appointment, Merzlyakov worked as Business Analytics Director at the telecommunications provider MegaFon’s head office in 2014-2017. He was responsible for efficiency management, strategic planning, and customer analytics. Merzlyakov was employed in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 7, 2017. Ural Airlines came up with a special offer for Saint Petersburg natives: prices for their Batumi-Saint Petersburg flight start from only 7,000 RUR (one way, all fees included, one piece of luggage under 23 kg included), the air carrier’s press service reports. Tickets can be booked till April 30, the flights will be operated between April 28 and October 27, 2017. The flights will be available every Monday and Friday. The airline says this is a limited offer. ‘Batumi is a very modern Georgian city, with both wonderful beaches and great entertainment venues,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 7, 2017. The average asking price came to 67,272 RUR on Yekaterinburg existing home market on April 3, 2017, Ural Real Estate Chamber’s analytical report states. The figure decreased by 0.4% in the last four weeks and by 2.9% compared with one year earlier. Homes in relatively recent buildings grew 13.7% cheaper, those in buildings dating back to the fifties and the eighties grew 17% and 17.2% cheaper, respectively. Apartments with the so-called improved layout grew 14.7% less expensive, with the average asking price at 63,723 RUR per m2. In the last four weeks,

UrBC, Moscow, April 7, 2017. Russia’s official poverty rate (the number of people with monthly incomes below the cost of living) has gone up from 13.3% in 2015 to 13.5% in 2016, Kommersant refers to Rosstat as stating. The number went up by 300,000, up to 19.8m people, which is the highest it has ever been since the year 2006. This means a decade-long attempt to overcome poverty is no longer a success. This has been brought about by the ongoing decline in people’s incomes in 2015 and 2016. Last year, Russians’ factual disposable incomes were 9.5% lower than in the year 2013, and their actual

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 6, 2017. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Director-General Alexander Potapov paid a visit to the corporation’s member enterprise Omsktransmash, the plant’s press service reports. ‘An inspection of the production site started from the assembly departments, where Alexander Potapov was shown every stage of caterpillar track assembly. Omsktransmash is currently Russia’s only plant to make caterpillar tracks for armored vehicles. Two years ago, new, hi tech equipment was installed here, which resulted in an expanded product range and increased production output,’ the press

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 6, 2017. Evrazruda’s Gurievsky branch was set up eighty-five years ago this month, EVRAZ Holding Siberia’s press office reports. The company makes limestone for the metallurgical and ore processing enterprises as well as for housing developers and road builders. Its annual output currently amounts to over 1,000,000,000 kg of limestone. The company is a member of EVRAZ Holding and works with EVRAZ West Siberian Metallurgical Works as its key customer. ‘The first shipments of local limestone were sent to Kuznetsk Metallurgical Works in March 1932 to make part of their

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 6, 2017. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) has supplied its casing pipes with TMK UP MAGNA threaded joints and lubricant-free Green Well coating to Lukoil for the first time this year. According to the company press service, the pipes got delivered to Yu.S. Kuvykin Deposit in the Caspian Sea with TMK experts’ supervision. The shipment was part of a contract for the delivery of the entire set of TMK Premium casing pipes with Green Wall coating. TMK UP MAGNA is a premium class threaded joint meant for pipes with the diameter of 340 mm to 508 mm. These joints can be

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 6, 2017. Ural Airlines are now offering their customers another scheduled flight to Tel Aviv. Their direct Sochi-Tel Aviv flight is operated every Thursday and Sunday. The air carrier’s press service reports the flight will be available from April 13 till late October 2017. Prices start from 7,103 RUR (one way, all fees included). ‘Tel Aviv is an amazing Mediterranean resort location, always full of life. The city has something to offer both to young people, who enjoy walks, shopping, cafes, and entertainment locations, and families with children, who can go to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 6, 2017. SKB-Bank and Mir National Payment System are about to issue their Mir debit cards fitted with a microprocessor chip, the bank’s press service reports. Mir card was created with the government’s support and is meant for transactions performed by customers of Russian banks. Mir meets the global security standards and ensures unfailing performance within the entire country. The cards will be used by civil service workers, who get their social welfare payments onto the card account, and by those who travel around the country a lot. Mir is available at any of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 5, 2017. SKB-Bank’s Elite-Bank branch in Yekaterinburg was founded ten years ago this month, the bank’s press service reports. ‘Elite-Bank is SKB-Bank’s branch set up for providing personal services to VIP customers. This was an entirely new level of banking service at the time, something that set a European-standard benchmark for premium banking services in the Urals. Ten years ago, Elite-Bank was the only private banking outlet in Yekaterinburg,’ the press service says. More than a thousand customers now bank with Elite-Bank; Yekaterinburg and Sverdlovsk Region’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 5, 2017. New suction systems got installed at Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant’s Foundry Department 2, the company press service reports. The new equipment was part of the head plant’s overall program on the improvement in working conditions. ‘These up-to-date suction systems are meant for air filtering on welding and defect-fixing sites and are very efficient in trapping dust and welding fumes,’ the press service says. The suction units were installed in four sections of Foundry Department 2. As a result, the harmful air emissions were greatly reduced.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 5, 2017. The number of meters and gadgets that automatically exchange their data online has gone up by 30% in the Urals in the last twelve months, the telecommunications provider MegaFon’s press service reports. Thanks to the increased use of smart appliances, companies switch to autonomous business process mode ever more often and thus improve their efficiency. ‘For one, SIM cards are used to control street lighting in Spain; the light grows dimmer when streets are empty. Also, smart garbage containers report on getting filled; all this resulted in a 25% cut in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 5, 2017. Ural Airlines now offer direct flights from Saint Petersburg to Tel Aviv on Thursdays and Sundays, the air carrier’s press service reports. Prices start from 7,560 RUR (one way, one piece of luggage under 23kg). ‘Tel Aviv is an amazing Mediterranean resort location, always full of life. The city has something to offer both to young people, who enjoy walks, shopping, cafes, and entertainment locations, and families with children, who can go to intersecting children’s playgrounds, fountains, and beaches. The city has one of the world’s most beautiful