UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 28, 2016. Simferopol Airport’s 5,000,000th passenger of this year flew with Ural Airlines on November 25, 2016, the air carrier’s press service reports. ’This special passenger was Elena Kovshova, who was traveling from Simferopol to Yekaterinburg. She was congratulated by Simferopol International Airport’s, Rosaviation’s South Territorial Administration in the Crimea’s, and Ural Airlines’ representatives,’ the press service says. Elena Kovshova was also presented with some souvenirs and a gift certificate for business lounge services; the company also upgraded

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 28, 2016. This year, Russian Copper Company keeps investing mainly in Karabashmed retooling and upgrades, the company’s Vice President for Finance Maxim Schibrik said in an interview to Rossiyskaya Gazeta. ‘This is one of our oldest plants in terms of the foundation date but no longer in terms of how obsolete its equipment and assets are. The plant was handed over to Russian Copper Company in a very poor state back in 2004. This is why we still have to invest most in Karabashmed,’ he said. Schibrik said the new vitriolic shop meant for recycling 99.9% of the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 28, 2016. SKB-Bank recently introduced its Happy Day options for credit card holders, the bank’s press service reports. When using their cards for any transaction, the cardholders automatically join a prize-winning lottery and could get a 100% cash-back on one day’s worth of shopping. ‘This special offer looks particularly appealing at the beginning of this year’s holiday season, when people tend to spend on gifts, winter break travel, and Christmas/New Year dinner ingredients. An SKB-Bank customer who uses their credit card to pay for their shopping might become

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 28, 2016. Urals-based Russians tend to use the money in their smartphone accounts to pay for their shopping increasingly more often; according to the telecommunications provider MegaFon, their Ural customers made nearly 20,000 payment transactions (75m RUR all in all) using their phone account funds in the last month alone. This is possible if you have a MegaFon bank card that is linked to your mobile phone account. Once it was introduced, more than 17,000 subscribers signed up for the option, with most active users based in Sverdlovsk Region, Perm Territory, and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 25, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant coordinated its annual amateur Olympics that are part of the company’s physical education and sports program, their press service reports. This year, twenty-one sports events were organized at the plant altogether, with more than 25,000 people from 110 different departments and divisions taking part. The best teams were awarded with trophy cups, honorary certificates, and money prizes (10,000 to 15,000 RUR to be spent on sportswear and equipment). The track-and-field race for Mashinostroitel Prize, a volleyball

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 25, 2016. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development reports a dramatic increase in the demand for bank guarantees based on Federal Acts 44 FZ, 223 FZ, and 615 PP, the bank’s press service reports. The bank issued 2.2 times more guarantees in the third quarter of the year compared with the first quarter, while their overall amount actually tripled. ‘The rising demand was brought about by seasonal factors above all. State-run enterprises coordinate more tenders and auctions in November and December in order to use up this year’s budgets and find reliable

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 25, 2016. Renova’s KORTROS Corporation presented its Akademichesky Project as an example of energy-effitcien technologies in the housing construction sector to Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak, RSG-Akademicheskoye’s press service reports. ‘In addition to being Russia’s largest full-scale housing construction project, Yekaterinburg’s newest quarter can boast innovative energy-saving technologies,’ the press service says. During the minister’s visit to KORTROS’s stand at ENES 2016, Akademichesky Management Company’s Director-General Nikolai Smirnyagin

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 25, 2016. Around 900 apartments currently for sale on Yekaterinburg existing homes market drop in price every week, while around a hundred apartments grow more expensive, Ural Real Estate Chamber’s analysts report. ‘Prices kept going down on Yekaterinburg existing homes market since last February. The price decrease was rather gradual and stagnated throughout the summer until the downward trend resumed in the fall. Housing prices went up a little in certain market segments during the month of October, which has to do with the changing market structure rather than

UrBC, Moscow, November 25, 2016. Russia’s Central Bank detected and eliminated some 120 pyramid schemes in the three quarters of the year, banki.ru refers to Head of Central Bank’s Open Market Fraud Prevention Administration Valeriy Lyakh as saying. ‘Around thirty schemes were uncovered in the last three months and perhaps about 120 since the start of the year,’ he said. The damage has been estimated at 40,000 to 80,000 RUR per every deluded investor on average. The number of victims varies from constituency to constituency, Lyakh said, and comes to between 100 and 150 people. Lyakh also

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 24, 2016. New, up-to-date resource-accounting systems to control electric power, natural gas, and water spending were installed at Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ) at the corporation’s Director-General Oleg Sienko’s initiative, the company press service reports. ‘We looked at other member enterprises’ experience with these before switching to new systems ourselves. The results were better than expected, so we are absolutely confident about the economic benefits to come. The power meters’ data get transferred to our dispatcher’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 24, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Board of Directors unanimously adopted the corporation’s development strategy for 2017-2025, the holding’s press service reports. ‘Our adopted strategy is based on several key development components: improvements in our management system; increase in sales; leadership in innovation and military and transport machine-building, with at least a 75% share of innovative goods in the company’s overall output; new partnerships in R&D, production, and sales; improvements in operational efficiency; increase in labor

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 24, 2016. Sinara Transport Machines’ Kalugaputmash started making new UGP1200TV1 hydraulic drives in November, Sinara Group’s press service reports. The new equipment was designed at the plant for upgraded TGM8KM locos made at Sinara Transport Machines’ Lyudinovsky Locomotive Plant for Ferrocarriles de Cuba. The universal, 1,200-horsepower-strong UGP1200TV1 has improved technical and resource-spending parameters and is suitable for humid tropical climates. Under the terms of their current contract, Sinara Transport Machines have to supply 60 TGM8KM locomotive

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 24, 2016. Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems recently launched a new chemical analysis laboratory at its 220 kilowatt Urengoi Substation in Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous District, the company press service reports. The new lab is expected to improve the diagnostics oil-filled equipment from the company’s five substations in the Polar North and the Subarctic and is fit to carry out over 500 physical and chemical tests every year. The lab analysts test and control the condition of circuit-breaker oil, insulators, adsorbents, battery electrolytes, and distilled

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 24, 2016. The number of apartments available for long-term rent in Yekaterinburg has gone down by 42%, from 2460 to 1,420 since the start of the year, N1.RU’s estate market analysts’ research findings indicate. The web portal’s press service reports the overall market supply dropped by 45% against last year, with the low hit in September, when only 1,080 apartments were on offer. The average monthly rent amount went down by 2% to 4% and currently comes to 19,300 RUR. ‘The shrinking supply probably has to do with the fact that increasingly fewer new and existing

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 23, 2016. Lastochka ES2G, a high-speed electric train with integrated Russian components and systems, got certified for compliance with the Customs Union Technical Regulations. A special certificate was also issued for the high-speed train bogie also designed and produced at the same plant, Sinara Group’s press service reports. ‘The Interdepartmental Design, Development, & Testing Assessment Committee met at Ural Locomotives in October. The committee comprised representatives of Russian Railways, Ural Locomotives, railway industry-related research institutes,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 23, 2016. Sinara Group’s Sinara Development completed the construction of the first section in its Peremena set of apartment buildings. The commissioning permits for buildings 8 and 6 in Evgeny Savkov St were issued on November 11, 2016, so the new home owners are currently picking up their keys, Sinara Group’s press service reports. These are two buildings of varying height (five to twenty-five storeys) with an underground parking lot. There are 769 apartments with different types of layouts all in all. Sinara Development’s Director-General Timur Ufimtsev says

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 23, 2016. EVRAZ Holding’s Kachkanar Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise keeps working on its Severny Mine in order to increase its ore output to 30,000,000,000kg a year, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s press office reports. For one, an up-to-date tire changer was introduced at the vehicle department to replace the tires of 130-ton BelAZ trucks. The time it takes to change one tire (2,200kg each) has by now shrunk by three times. The tire changer is fitted with a special security system that blocks the unit automatically in case anything goes wrong. The vehicle department

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 23, 2016. The rating agency Fitch Ratings recently affirmed SKB-Bank’s long-term rating at B-, with Stable Rating Outlook. According to the agency, this has to do with the bank’s improved retail lending performance, the bank’s press service reports. SKB-Bank’s loan book is seen as being of better quality than one year earlier, mostly because the bank is now focused on more solvent customers and those with a good credit history at the bank. As a result, the bank’s profit margin rose considerably in the first half of 2016 against the year 2015. Fitch Ratings

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 23, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region intends to make 761.84m RUR in privatization revenues this year and 6.44m RUR in 2018 and 2019 each, the pubic property management report for 2017-2019 states. At the same time, no profit is expected to result from the sale of shareholdings owned by Sverdlovsk Region in the two years to come. The constituency expects to make money only through handing publicly owned buildings and heating, water supply, and power facilities over to private proprietors. No new decisions on getting public property privatized are expected to be made in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 22, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Omsktransmash has been making increasingly more metallurgical produce in the last three years, the company press service reports. ‘Omsktransmash started making a whole range of new products in the last few years. The plant used to get a lot of orders for castings such as railway crossing clamps, couplers, and cross arms (fifteen different types of products altogether), but now the demand for these is down and we had to focus on manganese steel castings. These make up 90% of our output at the moment, whereas the remaining