UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 8, 2016. ChTPZ Group, Chelyabinsk Region Education & Science Ministry, and A.V. Yakovlev Chelyabinsk State Vocational School signed a trilateral agreement on a public-private partnership (a five-year training program), the Group’s press service reports. The paper was signed by the Group’s pipe division’s Director-General Alexander Grubman, Minister Alexander Kuznetsov, and the school director Natalya Pimenova. The idea is to introduce and promote a dual education system in Chelyabinsk, with learning time divided between theory (40% of time) and practice (60%

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 8, 2016. The share of online transactions made via a smartphone browser or app came to 70% of all e-banking transactions at the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD); one year earlier, the figure was only 50%, the bank’s press service reports. Mobile banking grew more popular both because increasingly more people now own smartphones (Yandex reports 29% of unique web page hits come from mobile devices, 75% of which are phones) and because m-banking options are now much more diverse. ‘Our customers’ feedback shows clearly that they are no longer

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 8, 2016. Mobile phone users based in Ural Federal District are moving their phone numbers and accounts to the telecommunications provider MegaFon increasingly more often, the company press service reports. Based on the available data, the number of MegaFon’s new subscribers doubled compared with the beginning of the year. Interestingly, ‘mobile number migrants’ are typically men under thrifty-five (62%) rather than women (38%). According to MegaFon’s analysts, every one in four MNP applications submitted by subscribers in the Greater Urals gets submitted by

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 7, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant in Nizhniy Tagil rounded up its annual flu vaccination campaign (fully covered by the company). According to the plant’s press service, over 12,000 people got flu shots altogether. This year, Russian vaccines based on A and B virus strains were used throughout the country. Ural Vagon Zavod purchased the trusted Russian vaccine Grippol+. Every plant worker could get a flu shot at the company medical lab or at any of the seventeen medical units located at the production departments. To make sure as many employees

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 7, 2016. ChTPZ Group and Rosnano’s joint venture, Chelyabinsk-based ETERNO is now making stamp-welded split tees with the help of nano-technologies; these are meant to serve as import substation products for the oil and gas industry. According to ChTPZ Group’s press service, the solemn opening ceremony of the production facility was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov, Rosnano Chair of the Board Anatoly Chubais, and ChTPZ Group shareholders Andrei Komarov and Alexander Fedorov. With ETERNO’s split

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 7, 2016. The telecommunications provider MegaFon is launching this year’s last large-scale smartphone sale this December, the company press service reports. New Year’s discounts will reach as much as 50% on certain types of smartphones and tablets; these special prices will be offered throughout the entire country as well as at the company’s online shop through January 31, 2017. More than a hundred different makes can be purchased at a bargain price this time, including Highscreen Spark-2 that comes in black, blue, orange, and yellow at half-price (1,745 RUR) and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 7, 2016. Ural Airlines are now offering their customers reduced-price plane tickets for Israel-bound flights, the air carrier’s press service reports. The offer is good for Samara-Tel Aviv-Samara flights starting from December 3, 2016. Tickets start from 7,160 RUR (one way) and 15,220 RUR (round trip), including one piece of luggage under 10kg. ‘A winter trip to Israel is a great idea for those going on a pilgrimage, those interested in ancient architectural landmarks, and those who enjoy wintertime landscapes. This is also a good choice for people looking for

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 7, 2016. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) paid its customers over 3m RUR within the framework of their ‘Bring A Friend’ program this year, the bank’s press service reports. Some 6,000 people joined the program and recommended the bank to their friends and acquaintances; as a result, the share of deposits opened at the bank based on friends’ advice rose from 5% to 14% against the beginning of the year. ‘People feel more comfortable settling for this or that particular bank if their friends or acquaintances recommend it. This kind of good

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 6, 2016. Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, Vice Premier Arkadiy Dvorkovich, Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov, Industry & Trade Minister Denis Manturov, and President of Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov came to Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s stand at the 10th International Russia’s Transport 2016 Exhibition, the company press service reports. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Director-General Oleg Sienko presented the company’s sample polymeric tank railcar meant for transportation of a wide range of chemicals. This KTsKh.PKM-25/0.4 tank was designed with

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 6, 2016. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) now makes 20P channel beams; 600,000 kg of these were shipped to customers in November, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s press office reports. The beams are hot-rolled from construction steels with the help of special mills. Depending on the customer’s needs, they can be made out of low-alloyed steel with improved performance characteristics. These 20P beams are popular with Russia- and CIS-based construction businesses and oil and gas companies. These beam types are particularly suitable for low

UrBC, Moscow, December 6, 2016. ChTPZ Group plans to sell over 1,700,000,000 kg of pipes by the end of the year, the company Director-General Alexander Grubman said in his interview to Interfax. ‘As we are now selling more goods that result in high margin profits, our revenues are expected to reach 130bn RUR by the end of the year, and approximately just as much next year,’ Grubman said. According to Grubman, the demand for pipe products will come to around 9.2 to 9.3m tons on the Russian market this year; the executive believes next year’s figures will be more or less comparable.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 6, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region’s annual price increase came to 5.8% compared with last year, Sverdlovskstat reports. Food items grew 5.8% more expensive, non-food items 6.6%. Alcohol drinks are now 7.2% more expensive, while the price of services rose by 5.2% on average. Inflation rate amounted to 5.2% in the Mid-Urals since the start of the year and to 0.5% in November 2016 against October 2016.

UrBC, Moscow, December 6, 2016. A draft bill that will speed up the lifting of the ban on leaving their home country for those who paid off their debts will probably be complemented by amendments that will also raise the upper debt limit that makes it illegal for the debtor to travel abroad, Vedomosti reports. The bill was drafted by the Justice Ministry and proposed to the State Duma in October; the lower chamber public construction and legislation committee intends to get the paper ready for the first hearing by December 8. People with 10,000 RUR or more worth of unpaid debts are now not

UrBC, Moscow, December 5, 2016. Russians’ factual income and consumer demand keep going down, banki.ru refers to Head of Accounts Chamber Tatiana Golikova as stating. ‘Consumer demand has been in decline for the second year in a row. This year, people’s spending is estimated to go down by 4.6% (compared with 5.3% in the ten months of the year), which is directly related to people’s shrinking incomes (-5.6% by the end of the year according to the government’s forecasts),’ Golikova said. The official also said consumer prices would go up a little faster in December than in the previous months,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 5, 2016. The non-state retirement fund Buduscheye is about to merge with a number other Russian non-state retirement funds, the fund’s director Nikolai Sidorov reports. Last year, the fund set a market precedent by embarking on a merger with StalFond, a major non-state retirement fund; this year, Buduscheye is ready to start managing Uralsib and Nashe Buduscheye. Sidorov says M&A is the current market trend rather than the particular choice of a few certain pension funds. As the security and financial performance requirements grew stricter in the last two or

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 5, 2016. ChTPZ Group’s 14th Snezhnost Children’s Festival will open at M.I. Glinka Chelyabinsk State Opera & Ballet Theater on December 8, the Group’s press service reports. The opening show called Classics for Children will be presented by the musicians of P.I. Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory (founded 150 years ago this year). ‘Since it was set up fourteen years ago, the festival has grown to be a very important cultural event in the Urals. Over 150,000 young visitors have enjoyed this experience so far. Every year, the program grows bigger, with

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 5, 2016. A new receiver got launched at Rosatom’s Ural Electrochemical Works (UEKhK) in Novouralsk as part of the company overall facilities upgrades program, the plant’s press service reports. Rosatom’s acceptance board had the receiver tested and approved for pilot production in September 2013. It was decided that the plant’s new technology for filling tanks with uranium hexafluoride should be tried out in field conditions. Some fifty filling cycles have been carried out in the course of pilot production since October 2013. The new technology has meant the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 5, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant in Nizhniy Tagil completed the capital repairs of its day-patient facility at the plant’s medical unit, the company press service reports. The solemn opening ceremony took place a few days previously, with the plant’s Executive Director Vladimir Roschupkin cutting the symbolic red ribbon. According to Roschupkin, the day patient unit now has everything necessary to ensure the patients’ comfortable stay. The repairs were funded by Ural Vagon Zavod. ‘It took us six months to get ten patient wards and a treatment

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 2, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Director-General Oleg Sienko and GLONASS DG Andrei Nedosekov signed a cooperation agreement on the use of GLONASS satellite technology on the first day of Transport Week 2016 Forum. The satellite system is meant to provide terrestrial, aerial, marine, and space navigation services to an unlimited number of users. GLONASS ensures all-the-year-round, 24/7 global positioning services anywhere in the world, regardless of what the weather conditions may be. Also, Ural Vagon Zavod signed an agreement with InfoWatch to ensure

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 2, 2016. ChTPZ Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant supplied 132 casing pipes with ChT-VC Premium I threaded joints to oil deposits in Orenburg Region. By customer’s order, the pipes were made from the highly durable P110 steels, the Group’s press service reports. ‘Our key customers for pipes with premium threaded joints are Surgutneftegaz, Rosneft, Lukoil, and Gazpromneft. The pipes are manufactured at Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant’s Finishing Center and then used at challenging oil deposits with particularly deep or complicated wells and increased gas content,’ the