April 10, 2015. Ural Airlines are introducing new flights to Saint Petersburg: according to the airline’s press service, a Saint Petersburg-Chita flight with an en-route stopover in Yekaterinburg will be launched on May 25, 2015. Chita-Saint Petersburg flight will be operated at 4:45PM every Monday and Thursday; the return flight is operated at 7:55AM on Fridays. Starting from May 26, 2015, morning flights will be operated from Barnaul to Saint Petersburg on Wednesdays and Saturdays; the return evening flights to Saint Petersburg will be available on Tuesdays and Fridays. Additionally,

April 10, 2015. A pylon with a countdown timer for the 10th Russia Arms Expo was unveiled in Nizhniy Tagil; this year’s exhibition will take place at an exhibition center on September 9-12. The pylon is located in front of the town hall in the city’s main square. The solemn timer-setting ceremony was performed by Mayor Sergey Nosov. ‘We are looking forward to the event and are preparing for it. This is why the countdown for the nationally and locally important exhibition begins. An international arms, military vehicles and munitions exhibition is a motivating factor to grow and to get better.

April 10, 2015. The UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships is now over at Apeldoorn in the Netherlands. Russian sports players won prizes as well as scored enough points to become eligible to compete in the Rio de Janeiro Paralympics in 2016. 153 riders from 30 different countries competed in the championship. Russia was represented by eight sports players from Udmurtia, Samara, Tyumen, Moscow, and Moscow Region. Three of the players on the Russian national team were members of Armada, a club sponsored by Uralvagonzavod Corporation: Alexei Obydyonnov, Nikita Nagnibedov, and Sergey

April 9, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region’s number of migrant workers has plummeted by 50% since the start of the year compared with a year earlier, Deputy Head of Russia’s Federal Migration Service Sverdlovsk Region division Vadim Lysakov said at a press conference. ‘We issued 4,900 work patents this year against 9,400 patents in 2014. Most of the foreign workers arrive from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan,’ Lysakov said. According to the official, the drop had to do with the recent legislative changes: for one, all foreign workers must now pass a Russian language test.

April 9, 2015. SOT/Rimera (a division of ChTPZ Group) supplied its first 50,000 kg of hot-bended pipe bends for the Power of Siberia Pipeline in March 2015. According to the Group’s press service, the 1,420mm bends (wall width 32mm) are made of K60 steel and have a corrosion-resistant Pk40 coating. Shipments will come to 500,000kg altogether and are expected to be all completed by May. Business Trend provides external auditors for the produce. ‘The Power of Siberia isn’t Gazprom’s only project to use SOT pipes in the second quarter of 2015. Rimera is also planning to make large shipments for

April 9, 2015. Volchansky Mechanical Plant (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) is planning to expand its product range. The company manufactures railway cars and will soon start making Platform 23-5179 for transportation of rolled sheets, the corporation’s press service reports. Ural Railway Design Office (a corporation’s member enterprise as well) provides the design documentation for the new variety. This is not the first time the plant and the design office work together on the development, introduction, and serial production of special-purpose carriages. The platform is

April 9, 2015. Omsk-based Secondary School 122 and Omsk Transport Machine-Building Plant signed a support agreement to promote the two parties’ cooperation, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. ‘This agreement means our corporation’s member enterprise representatives can work with teens, contribute to their education, and provide job counseling for the plant’s potential employees. The school, in its turn, will offer in-depth training in the fields that are crucial for those who are planning to apply for tech schools,’ the press service says. Based on this agreement, the plant’s

April 9, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region residents are finding themselves forced to sell their ready businesses ever more often due to cash flow problems, Rmarket’s Andrei Seleznev told UrBC. ‘Many business people’s incomes dropped because of the devaluation of the ruble, while their spending went up at the same time. Besides, loans are now virtually unavailable in Russia. This means entrepreneurs just have considerably less money to keep on developing, so many of them have to offer their companies for sale. Some of them do it on their own through services such as Avito.ru and some use special

April 8, 2015. The international rating agency Moody’s Investors Service confirmed Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works/MMK CFR at Ba3; the company’s PDR was confirmed at Ba3 PD, with Stable rating outlook. This confirmation completes the rating re-evaluation procedure that was instituted for a number of Russian companies on December 23 because of a dramatic deterioration of conditions for operating in Russia and increased risks of a prolonged economic downfall. Moody’s explains in their press release that MMK should remain competitive expenses-wise (for one, the prime cost of slabs dropped

April 8, 2015. Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky suggested that Sverdlovsk Film Studio should not be privatized and should be converted from federal to local government property instead, Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Public Property Management refers to Medinsky’s letter to Governor Evgeniy Kuivashev as stating. ‘The studio might try out a different format, talks on the subject are under way, with no details just yet. Nor do we have a specific interested investor or customer at the moment,’ the studio’s Director-General Mikhail Churbanov says. Now Sverdlovsk Film Studio was actually

April 8, 2015. QR codes will appear on Nizhniy Tagil’s important war landmarks in celebration of Victory Day. The whole thing is coordinated by Uralvagonzavod Corporation, the company press service reports. ‘Thanks to these 2D barcodes, it will take smartphone users just a click to find out about the historic places and learn about the well-known local residents’ contribution to winning the war, as well as about the efforts of those who were evacuated to Ural Tank Plant 183 (know known as Uralvagonzavod),’ the press service says. The QR codes will appear in Glory Square, Memorial Hill, and

April 8, 2015. Russian Federation General Prosecutor’s Office used court authority to make Slavyanka’s Yekaterinburg branch pay its former workers’ wages (over 3m RUR all in all), their press service reports. It was determined that the company did not actually employ 169 workers but signed service contracts instead to have its military-purpose facilities taken care of; the contracts were later annulled, with no payments for the work done. The victims went to the military prosecution authorities, and an investigation of the company’s activity was carried out. ‘The garrison’s military

April 8, 2015. Sysert-based Energomash-Uralgidromash is now involved in a criminal suit, with charges of neglect to pay workers’ wages, Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution authorities’ press service reports. It was determined that the company owed its workers more than 68.7m RUR as of April 1, 2015. The money is owed for the period between November 2014 and March 2015. Based on the findings of their inquiry, Sysert public prosecution authorities instituted administrative proceedings against the company’s director, with charges based on Article 5.27 (Part 1) of the Russian Federation

April 8, 2015. The German automobile concern Daimler/Mercedes might put up a factory in Sverdlovsk Region: the constituency was shortlisted along with Saint Petersburg and Kazan, TASS refers to President of Russian Investment Agency Yuri Spiridonov as saying. ‘Negotiations are in progress, and the company representatives are in Saint Petersburg all the time. They are considering three areas, including Kazan, where they run a commercial vehicle assembly facility, and Sverdlovsk Region,’ Spiridonov said. According to Spiridonov, five passenger vehicles (S, E, ML, GL and A Series) might be

April 7, 2015. The first semi-final round of WorldSkills Ural Federal District took place at Culture Palace of Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant/PNTZ (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group). According to the Group’s press service, the solemn opening ceremony was attended by Russia’s official delegate to WorldSkills International, Head of Blue Collar Training & Vocational Education Department at Russian Education & Science Ministry Natalya Zolotareva, Director-General of WorldSkills Russia Robert Urazov, Deputy Head of Education Projects at the Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian

April 7, 2015. Ural Airlines launched a new mobile app for checking in online. The air carrier’s customers can now check in for their flight using an iOS mobile phone or a tablet. Their boarding card will be sent to their email address and will also be available within UralAirlines app, the airline’s press service reports. Ural Airlines introduced their mobile app in May 2014. So far, users have been offered such services as the flight schedule, booking and buying a ticket online, online interactive announcement board, passenger help, and others. A new version of the app is to be made

April 7, 2015. The net loss of Uralmashzavod (UZTM) came to 2,317,528,000 RUR in 2014, the company’s annual accounting report states. The plant’s revenues dropped by 37% last year and amounted to 4,541,944,000 RUR against 7,179,381,000 RUR in 2013. Proceeds from sales of machines and equipment on the home market decreased from 5,921,119,000 RUR down to 3,193,543,000 RUR. At the same time, proceeds from sales on India’s market rose from 444.071m RUR to 455.702m RUR. Figures also looked better on the CIS sales and the markets of the countries of the far abroad: 892.699m RUR in 2014 against

April 7, 2015. Ural Federal University intends to enroll 20% fewer full-time students by 2020. Stricter eligibility and admission requirements will be introduced to reduce the number of students from 24,000 to 20,000 people, Rector Viktor Koksharov told the Expert Ural magazine. ‘This is one the things necessary to make our college more competitive. Applicants will have to face stricter requirements during the next enrollment campaign; for one, their Russian state exam scores will have to be higher than those recommended by Rosobrnadzor, so some of the applicants won’t get admitted because of

April 7, 2015. Consumer prices rose by 1% in Sverdlovsk Region this March; this is an 8.1% increase on the start of the year, Sverdlovskstat reports. Food prices (excluding strong drinks) went up by 2.3% (and by 12.4% compared with the beginning of the year), the price of strong drinks increased by 1.9% (by 4.9% compared with the start of the year), and those of non-food items rose by 1.5% (by 7.3% compared with the start of the year).

April 6, 2015. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant/ChTZ (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) is going to take part in the Victory Day Parade with tanks with the names of their creators on them. According to the corporation’s press service, the plant usually offers historic samples of combat vehicles from its collection for the parade, which takes place in Chelyabinsk on May 9. The collection comprises tanks that were designed or manufactured at the plant and that are now stored on its premises. Every spring, tanks such as T-34 and IS-3, SP guns such as ISU 152, and infantry combat