UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 15, 2016. EVRAZ Holding’s Raspadskaya Coal Company completed renovating of a processing plant at Kuznetskaya Processing Factory in Novokuznetsk, EVRAZ Siberia’s corporate relations department reports. The renovations resulted in improved coal concentrate quality and increased output (up to 60,000,000 kg a year). ‘In order to improve the coal concentrate quality, the entire processing routine had to be reorganized and a new deep-level processing section had to be added. A set of modern equipment — two hydro-clone units, spiral-coil separators, slurry centrifugal

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 15, 2016. ChTPZ Group’s Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant delivered 865,000,000 kg of pipes to their customers in the first half of the year, the company press service reports. This is, in fact, 19%, or 206,000,000 kg less than one year earlier; the decrease has to do with declining demand for large-diameter pipes (one of the Group’s key product). This has been a trend typical of all the Russian manufacturers. The Group shipped 356,000,000 kg of welded pipes to their customers in January-June 2016, including 323,000,000 kg of LDPs. This

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 15, 2016. Ural Airlines are now offering tickets for international flights operated from Moscow and Yekaterinburg at reduced prices. According to the air carrier’s press service, Russian travelers will be able to book their flights at a 20%. provided these flights are operated between September 1 and October 25 and between November 12 and December 15, 2016. Tickets can be booked at the company website, over the mobile app, or over the phone.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 15, 2016. The share of Sverdlovsk Region-based loss-making businesses rose from 32% to 35% of all companies in the area in January-May 2016 against the start of the year, Rosstat research findings indicate. In Ural Federal District on average, the figure rose from 31% to 35%. Things look their bleakest in Kurgan Region and Chelyabinsk Region, where the figures went up from 35% to 44% and from 30% to 38%, respectively.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 12, 2016. Georgiy Bedrik was elected new Chair of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant’s Veterans’ Council, the company press service reports. Georgiy Bedrik was born in Nizhniy Tagil on November 9, 1948. He came to work at the plant as a measuring equipment technician in August 1966 and graduated from Ural Polytechnic with a degree in Motor Drive & Industrial Plant Automation in 1972. Bedrik went all the way through from blue-collar jobs to managerial positions and worked as the plant’s Senior Power Engineer. Georgiy Bedrik was also involved in social and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 12, 2016. More than 3.46m people have used Ural Airlines’ services this year so far, up 18% on one year earlier, the air carrier’s press service reports. The airline operated 26,170 flights all in all (+13% on last year), including 16,490 domestic ones, 4,670 international ones, and 5,000 flights around the CIS member states. Passenger traffic has amounted to 8.15m passenger-kilometers since January 1, 2016, which exceeds the figures for a year earlier by 15%. More than 801,000 people flew with the carrier in July (up 17% on July 2015); the airline operated 5,000

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 12, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region risks losing up to 20% of possible harvest yield due to abnormally hot weather, Ural farmers informed UrBC. According to Anatoly Zhiganov, a local farmer, insufficient humidity might affect everything: grains, potatoes, and cabbage, and the yield thus might turn out even worse than last year. ‘Things will look worse this year than last summer. We did have some excessive rain, but the harvest yield was good enough after all. This year’s output will probably be around 20% smaller,’ Zhiganov said. Director of Bitimsky Farm Cooperative

UrBC, Moscow, August 12, 2016. The average receipt amount at Ural Federal District-based shops declined by 6% in July 2016 and now comes to 410 RUR, Romir Holding reports. In Russia on the whole, the average receipt amount actually rose by 1.2% in July against one month earlier and came to 510 RUR. This means that this amount has been very low for the last six months, at a level comparable with that of late 2013 and early 2014. Last month’s average receipt amount dropped by 8.8%, or 49 RUR against July 2015. Given the yearly inflation rate of 7.2%, the actual amount shrank by as much as 16%.

UrBC, Moscow, August 12, 2016. Russia’s weekly deflation rate was registered at 0.1% on August 2-8, 2016, just like one week earlier, Rosstat reports. For one, the price of fruit and vegetables dropped by 3.5% last week, including a 10.7% and an 8.2% drop in the price of tomatoes and cucumbers, respectively. Potatoes, carrots, and cabbage grew 4.1% to 4.9% less expensive, respectively, while the price of fish, eggs, rice, and pasta declined by 0.1% to 0.3%. At the same time, the price of sugar went up by 0.6%, that of toffee, buckwheat, and chicken by 0.2% to 0.4%, and that of gasoline and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 11, 2016. A play based on Alexander Gelman’s We, The Undersigned will be presented in A.S. Pushkin theater in Moscow on September 19. This play was originally performed at Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant in celebration of the company’s 80th anniversary. ‘We are happy to see this play acquire a life of its own,’ says Ural Vagon Zavod Deputy Director-General Alexei Zharich. According to the company press service, the play will be produced by the original cast involved in the Nizhniy Tagil first night performance. Russian actors Andrei Kuzichev, Anna

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 11, 2016. The amount of ferrous metal shipments handled by Sverdlovsk Railways in July 2016 dropped by 8.5%, down to 5.6m tons, against one year earlier, the company press service reports. Also, chemical and mineral fertilizer shipments dropped by 9.7% (down to 7.5m tons), timber shipments by 5.7% (down to 5.7m tons), iron and manganese ore shipments by 4.9% (down to 7.3m tons), chemicals and soda shipments by 4.2% (down to 2.2m tons), scrap ferrous metal shipments by 1.9% (down to 1.4m tons), and cement shipments by 0.9% (down to 1.5m tons). All in all, Sverdlovsk

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 11, 2016. A statistically average Yekaterinburg-based family will have to keep saving up for two years and one month before they can make a down payment on a new one-bedroom apartment, real estate-related website N1.RU claims. The calculations were based on the following: the average monthly pay in the area (40,886 RUR), the minimum living wage (10,638 RUR a month), average monthly per capita spending (17,651 RUR), the average price of a new one-bedroom home (3,829,800 RUR) and its average area (61 m2), and the down payment amount (20% of the total cost). Since new

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 11, 2016. The government might lift the ban on Turkish foods import before the end of the year, Rossiyskaya Gazeta refers to Russia’s Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev as stating. However, Turkish foods must be inspected for safety and compliance with Rosselkhoznadzor standards first, the minister said. The embargo was introduced on January 1, 2016. Among the banned foods were poultry, salt, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, cauliflower, broccoli, fresh and dried citrus fruits, apples, pear,s apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, grapes, and strawberries.

UrBC, Moscow, August 11, 2016. Gazprom’s shareholder-related net profit (calculated in accordance with the International Accounting Standards) went down by 5.18% in the first quarter of 2016 against the last quarter of 2015 and reached 362.209bn RUR, Prime reports. The company’s sales revenues rose by 5.4%, up to 1.737 trillion RUR (compared with 1.648 trillion RUR one year earlier). Sales profit dropped by 34.16% and came to 301.973bn RUR.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 10, 2016. United Energy Systems’ Federal Grid Company (FCG UES) gave a number of maintenance sessions and overhauls to its power facilities in Western Siberia in the first half of the year, the company press service reports. The goal was to make sure the upcoming fall/winter heating season is accident- and emergency-free, and to ensure a more reliable power supply to end users in the area. For one, the 220- to 500 -kilowatt electric mains in Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region, Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Region, and Tyumen Region got 207 new insulators and 53

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 10, 2016. Over six hundred children of ChTPZ Group’s employees are going to get gift certificates to buy school supplies this year; more than 1.5m RUR have been directed to the purpose, the company press service reports. ‘Helping these kids get ready for school is a regular thing to do for the company, as are the annual theatre festival, children’s entertainment projects, and summer job opportunities. We also support sports and promote a healthy lifestyle. These are our investments in the future, we want children to grow up happy and healthy and their parents to be

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 10, 2016. Oleg Moskalenko’s team from EVRAZ Holding’s Raspadskaya Coal Company’s Uskovskaya Mine have produced 1,000,000,000 kg of coal since the start of the year, EVRAZ Holding Siberia’s press office reports. Raspadskaya Coal Company Director-General Sergei Stepanov congratulated the miners on this great production achievement. ‘The valuable, great quality GZh coal that is produced at Uskovskaya Mine is very popular with Russian metallurgical companies. Quite a few mines in Kuzbass are now producing this coal type, so in order to stay competitive on this market,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 10, 2016. The telecommunications provider MegaFon came up with a new service for its business customers: these customer companies’ employees can be offered the Internet access at work that only allows them to use the web for work purposes, MegaFon Ural’s press service reports. ‘Since Pokemon Go proved astoundingly popular all over the world, and players keep looking for rare virtual creatures in order to get the fullest collection and set a world record, companies are growing increasingly concerned about how rationally their staff are using the company’s mobile

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 10, 2016. A new double-point cold stamping press is currently being assembled at Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant’s pressing/welding department, the company press service reports. The machine was made by one of Russia’s major forging and pressing equipment manufacturers. ‘The modern 1,600-ton-strong press will be used for performing various cold-stamping operations such as cutting, bending, forming, and so on needed to make bulky parts out of rolled steel sheets. The mill will also be used for making spare parts for Ural Vagon Zavod’s entire railcar

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 9, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ) took part in a job fair at Chelyabinsk Employment Center, the company press service reports. The plant welcomes qualified coremakers, molders, fettlers, pattern-makers, millers, flame cutting torch operators, and test drivers. ‘This increased demand for blue-collar workers has to do with our ambitious plans to increase production output. Our HR Department aims to take on the best skilled workers, who are offered good pay, a benefits package, and dormitory accommodation for single men,’ the