UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 18, 2017. Sinara Group’s Sinara Development recently commissioned Aquarelle, an apartment building in Volgograd’s Krasnooktyabrsky District, the Group’s PR Center reports. The commissioning permit was issued on December 29, 2016; the owners are currently being handed over the keys to their new homes. ‘The sixteen-story apartment building at 13 Novoremeslennaya St has 286 apartments in its two sections (0ver 14,000 m2 all in all). The choice location provides a great view of urban landscapes, including that of Mamayev Kurgan. There are schools, kindergartens,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 18, 2017. A Communion service, with Great Blessing of the Waters, will take place at Akademicheskiy District’s parish church in commemoration of the Baptism of the Lord, RSG-Akademicheskoye’s press service reports. Ice bathing opportunities will be provided for the believers, with a baptismal font and heated changing cabins installed next to the church. ‘Great Blessing of the Waters takes place the day before the Baptism of the Lord and on Epiphany Day itself. Orthodox Christians then keep the holy water at home throughout the year, using it sparingly and with

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 18, 2017. Consumer prices rose by 5.8% in Sverdlovsk Region in December 2016 against one year earlier; in December 2015, the increase was 14% against December 2014, Sverdlovskstat reports. Food items (excluding alcohol) grew 4.7% more expensive (the increase was 17.2% in December 2015), alcohol drinks grew 7.9% more expensive (9% in December 2015). The price of milk and dairy products went up by 10.1% on average, that of pasta, cheese, and bread and pastry by 6.6%, 6.2%, and 5.2%, respectively. Grains and pulses grew 10.9% more expensive on average. The price

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 17, 2017. Russian Copper Company gave out valuable prizes to amateur photographers for their bright and expressive pictures of a light show projected onto Yekaterinburg Council building, the company press service reports. ‘Russian Copper Company’s light show, coordinated on December 29-January 8 with support from Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev, was probably the most memorable event of this year’s winter break in Yekaterinburg. The multimedia show got projected onto the city council building, with pictures and videos on Yekaterinburg’s past and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 17, 2017. Sinara Group’s Ural Locomotives handed its first 2ES7 AC freight loco with a-synchronic drive over to East-Siberian Railways’ Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM), Sinara Group’s press service reports. The two-section locomotive got successfully tried out and certified in October-December 2016. ‘The mainline is normally used for giving extreme-conditions trial runs to all new types of locomotives. BAM presents a combination of operation-complicating factors: there are quite a few difficult slopes and angles, outside temperature varies between 50 degrees centigrade

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 17, 2017. My Vmeste Charity Fund and the telecommunications provider MegaFon Ural carried out a social service campaign to collect 30m RUR for terminally ill children by mid-December. This is 9m RUR more than in the year 2015, MegaFon’s press service reports. ‘A special video created by Voskhod Advertising Agency proved the key feature in drawing the public’s attention to the kids’ problems. The video both moved the general viewers and impressed adverting community professionals, as the clip won three important awards: PORA!2016 Social Service Announcement Prize

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 17, 2017. Russian Copper Company’s Karabashmed and Karabash Council singed a social partnership agreement, the company press service reports. Karabashmed Director-General Andrei Khanzhin, Mayor of Karabash Oleg Budanov, Chair of Deputies’ Council Dmitri Shutkin, Russian Copper Company Vice President for HR & SCR Anna Shabarova, and Russian Copper Company Social Policy Director Elena Tarasova took part in the signing ceremony. The framework partnership agreement will cover both new projects (construction of the sports facility Metallurg and a shopping mall,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 17, 2017. 1,149,000 passengers traveled abroad from Regional Airports Holding’s Koltsovo Airport in Yekaterinburg last year, which was 23.5% less than one year previously, the airport’s Strategic Communications Department reports. At the same time, passenger traffic rose by 14.8% for domestic flights and reached the record-setting 3,151,000 people. 4,300,000 people went through Koltsovo Airport last year altogether, which was 53,000 people more than in the year 2015. Sixty-eight air carriers operated their flights from the airport to 135 different destinations in

UrBC, Moscow, January 16, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) proved No.1 among Russian manufacturers of galvanized and coated rolled metal products from among ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgical enterprises in the second half of 2016. The usual rating was carried by Metallosnabzheniye I Sbyt magazine. This is the third time MMK has made it to the top of this rating. ‘The plant became the coated metal goods market leader thanks to its long-term galvanizing and polymeric coating facilities upgrade program. The plant introduced two continuous hot-dip galvanizing units and two

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 16, 2017. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant selected its Youth Mentors of The Year as usual; forty people from the plant’s various departments and divisions took part in the contest, the company press service reports. There are currently over a thousand mentors active at the plant. Turner from the plant’s Experimental Department Vyacheslav Kurdeyev won the first prize this year, while repair mechanic from the Assembly Department Vyacheslav Akimov and steel smelter from the Open Hearth Department Igor Korkin won silver and bronze, respectively. ‘The judges

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 16, 2017. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) sold 882,000,000 kg of steel pipes to customers in the last quarter of 2016, which was 7.4% more than in the third quarter; the increase was mainly brought about by the increased sales of welded pipes and weldless OCTGs within TMK’s Russian division. The company sold 3.1% more weldless pipes in Q’IV 16 than in Q’III and reached 633,000,000 kg. Mainly, these were weldless OCTGs and weldless industrial pipes. Welded pipe sales rose by 20% compared with the third quarter of 2016 and amounted to 249,000,000 kg; mainly, these

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 16, 2017. Sverdlovsk Region’s Power Committee (REK) increased public transport fares from 26 to 28 RUR starting from February 1, 2017. ‘REK met the local transport operators’ needs partially by raising the cost of using public transport to 28 RUR. The changes come into effect on February 1. As a matter of fact, the operators had actually asked for an increase to as much as 31 to 35 RUR, but the committee did not think this justified, economically: the operators were unable to prove the expenses that would need to be compensated with a price increase as big as

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 16, 2017. Yekaterinburg Customs’ overall foreign trade turnover shrank by 13.6%, down to $8.2bn RUR, last year compared with the year 2015. 95.1% of foreign transactions were carried out with partners based outside the CIS, while the remaining 4.9% were carried out with partners based in the CIS member states, the customs’ press service reports. The United States, Algeria, China, the Netherlands, Greece, Germany, India, Switzerland, and Italy proved Sverdlovsk Region’s most important foreign trade partners last year, with their share of the turnover at 17%, 13.7%,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 16, 2017. FlyDubai airplane going from Dubai to Yekaterinburg had to face an emergency landing in Chelyabinsk last night. Koltsovo Airport’s press service reports the decision had to be taken as the plane (Boeing 737-800) wasn’t functioning properly. At the same time, it is also reported the trouble had been caused by poor weather conditions in Yekaterinburg. There were seven crew members and 170 passengers on board. Passengers got transferred from Chelyabinsk to Yekaterinburg by bus.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 13, 2017. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s T90 tank and Buratino TOS 1 heavy flamethrower made it to the list of World’s Top 5 military vehicles last year according to China Military, the company press service reports. ‘Our T90 tank made at the corporation’s head plant is on top of this list. According to China Military, this was the primary and most important armored vehicle for the Syrian Government’s armed forces. It is reported that the Russian tank proved both useful in the fight against local Islamist groups and surprisingly destruction-proof,’ the press

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 13, 2017. EVRAZ Holding’s West-Siberian Integrated Metallurgical Works (ZSMK) won the National Environmental V.I. Vernadsky Prize, EVRAZ Holding Siberia’s press office reports. The plant’s project on upgrading the facilities of Novokuznetsk’s primary employer won in the Urban Environment category. ‘For many years, the plant has been implementing large-scale environmental protection and conservation programs such as doing away with the obsolete facilities, switching to up-to-date equipment, and introducing new waste recycling technologies. We have a list of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 13, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) coordinated its first Winter Break Project for children living in foster homes and social security centers for the first time this year; this is part of the bank’s Children Believe in Miracles program, the bank’s press service reports. Fifteen teenagers from Bogdanovich, Kachkanar, Nizhniy Tagil, and Pervouralsk came to the bank’s head office on January 15 to take part in a ‘grown-up life workshop’. ‘The goal was to use the following five days to motivate the teens to seek work and learn to live

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 13, 2017. 43,290 kg of sanctioned foods were confiscated and destroyed in Sverdlovsk Region last year, Rosselkhoznadzor’s local division’s press service reports. It was detected the Russian plant quarantine requirements were not complied with in 457 instances, including 206 cases of failure to meet Koltsovo Airport’s sanitary control standards. 454 fines (total amount: 577,800 RUR) were issued by the customs authorities, of which 506,100 RUR (96%) have been paid so far. Also, 235 warrants were issued to the non-complying companies.

UrBC, Moscow, January 13, 2017. Old-age insurance pensions will get a 5.4% inflation adjustment on February 1, 2017; this increase in comparable with the actual inflation rate in 2016, Labor Minister Maxim Topilin informed reporters following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with the Cabinet officials, TASS reports. ‘Pensions will get inflation-adjusted on February 1, 2017. Rosstat carried its consumer price index report for the year 2016, and their inflation figures state at 5.4%, so all insurance pensions will go up by 5.4% on February 1,’ Topilin is quoted as saying. According to

UrBC, Moscow, January 12, 2016. Russians have tended to eat less meat, fish, milk, and sugar and more potatoes, melons, pumpkins, and vegetables in the last few of years, Izvestia refers to Rosstat’s report on the federal constituencies’ socioeconomic development indicators as stating. According to Rosstat, the average amount of meat, fish, milk and dairy products, and sugar a Russian eats a year dropped by 2kg, 5kg, 9kg, and 1kg, respectively, between 2013 and 2015. The average amount of consumed eggs and bread has remained the same, while that of vegetables, melons, pumpkins, and zucchini