December 24, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation, UVZ Logistic, and Sberbank Leasing signed a major contract on the lease of railway rolling stock in December 2014, the corporation’s press service reports. Sberbank Leasing handed more than 10,000 railway carriages (including 1,800 innovative gondola cars) over to UVZ Logistic. The fifteen-year contract’s total worth (considering the lease payments) comes to about 40bn RUR. The funding is secured by Sberbank of Russia’s Moscow branch. The rolling stock in question comprises tank cars 15-156-04, 15-156-03, 15-150-04, 15-5103-07, and 15-157;

December 24, 2014. Prof. Georgy I Zakamennykh, PhD, member of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences and Director-General of Burevestnik Central Scientific Research Institute (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) was awarded the title of the Honorary Citizen of Nizhniy Novgorod Region, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘This is a very high estimate of the institute and its head’s contribution to the area’s socioeconomic development. The institute team, headed by Prof. Zakamennykh, is engaged in a wide range of scientific studies and experimental design

December 24, 2014. A Ukrainian proved the most proactive contributor to the Tankopedia Project in December 2014; in fact, he was No.1 in the previous months as well. The fifteen-year-old expert on armored vehicles became even more active after his first prize-winning event in November: he contributed 99 entries in September and October and as many as 70 in November alone. All of the entries are on Armored Vehicles, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. Tankopedia has received some 1,200,000 page views since the day it was launched. There are 3,069 articles on the website

December 24, 2014. Yekaterinburg’s average monthly pay figures and per capita retail trade turnover figures are much higher than the country’s average as well as than the figures in other large Russian cities, Head of Yekaterinburg Council Alexander Yakob announced at an end-of-year conference. He says most of the macroeconomic performance indicators have remained moderate throughout the year: the city’s industrial production index in January-October 2014 was 5% lower than in January-October 2013, the industrial production index for the processing industry went down by 6.7%, and the volume of

December 24, 2014. ChTPZ Group Chairman of the BOD Alexander Fedorov and Rector of South Ural State University Alexander Shestakov signed a strategic cooperation agreement on December 22; the enterprise and the college will work together in the areas of vocational education and scientific research, ChTPZ Group’s press service says. The two parties aim to equip college students with skills needed to work at a modern industrial enterprise, to provide the plant with enough skilled engineers, to improve ChTPZ Group employees’ cadre potential, to improve pipe-manufacturing equipment and

December 23, 2014. Eight B10M bulldozers shipped by Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) to Magadan Region’s housing services and utilities companies have arrived on site, the corporation’s press service reports. Governor of Magadan Region Vladimir Pecheniy came to the solemn handing-over ceremony for the vehicles. ‘Renovating our fleet of utility vehicles is one of our top priorities. Unless we upgrade, we can’t possibly maintain the facilities and infrastructure in our villages clean and tidy. This is why we embarked on this project. Quite a few

December 23, 2014. Over 90% of Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) Corporation’s member enterprises made some net profit in 2014, the corporation’s press service refers to Director-General Oleg Sienko as saying at the end-of-year management meeting in Moscow. Sienko said in his speech that, economic difficulties notwithstanding, the corporation had been making net profit for five years in a row. He also pointed out that UVZ did a lot of work towards the government defense order (54.4bn RUR worth of goods, which was 2.7 times more than in 2013). 1,500 units of new and upgraded military vehicles were

December 23, 2014. Around 380m RUR were invested in Sverdlovsk Region-based businesses’ fixed assets in 2014, which amounts to 22.7% of the area’s GDP for this year, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policies Department reports. 115,000 new jobs were created in the area (29.5% more than the target figure) in accordance with the Russian President’s decree, local statistical bodies report. Sverdlovsk Region Vice Premier and Minister for Investment & Development Alexei Orlov announced at a government meeting chaired by Governor Evgeniy Kuivashev that investments reached 217.8bn RUR

December 23, 2014. Transaero Airlines is planning to stop operating flights from Yekaterinburg to Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport starting next January. ‘The airline has informed us that they were planning to stop operating flights from Yekaterinburg to Domodedovo and to keep operating only the one from Yekaterinburg to Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport,’ Yekaterinburg’s Koltsovo Airport’s press service told UrBC. The airline does not state any reason for giving up on this flight. Media commented earlier on Transaero possibly stopping operating any flights whatsoever due to financial troubles. The airline

December 23, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region’s government debt rose by 10%, or 3bn RUR, by December 1, and thus amounted to 34bn RUR, Sverdlovsk Region Finance Ministry’s website states. The debt amounted to 33,939,645,800 RUR on December 1 against 30,949,657,400 RUR in November. Incidentally, the upper limit for the constituency’s debt in 2015 was set at 100bn RUR. The local municipalities’ debts amounted to 5bn RUR in December.

December 22, 2014. Uralvagonzavod’s Okunev Palace of Culture hosted a round table discussion on partnership development with Chinese businesses. A Chinese delegation, headed by the People’s Republic of China’s Consul-General in Yekaterinburg Tyan Ynsan, joined the discussion as guests of honor, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. First Deputy Mayor of Nizhniy Tagil Vladislav Pinayev and Nizhniy Tagil Chamber of Commerce & Industry President and Chairman Boris Sokolov took part in the discussion as well, as did business representatives, including Uralvagonzavod’s Chief

December 22, 2014. A robbery occurred in Dekabristov St: the target was the office of Pangea, the authorized agent of Tez Tour, a tour operator. According to preliminary reports, 50,000 RUR were stolen, says Valeriy Gorelykh, head of the Department of Internal Affairs’ Sverdlovsk Region division’s press service. Gorelykh said two unidentified persons wearing masks, armed with something that looked like a gun, broke into the office. There were three managers in the room at the moment. The offenders threatened them and made them opened the safe and took the money that was in it. There were no

December 22, 2014. IKEA put a temporary halt on selling kitchen furniture and home appliances in Russia. ‘We are currently updating our current prices on a website, so the prices quoted here may differ from the ones in our stores,’ the company’s website says. IKEA promises to re-launch sales on December 20. Now IKEA has warned about an increase in wardrobe, kitchen, and storage system prices starting December 18.

December 22, 2014. Yekaterinburg proved one of Russia’s top best cities for traveling to with children, Travel.ru reports. Saint Petersburg, Sochi, Moscow, Anapa, Kazan, Yaroslavl, Velikiy Novgorod, Kostroma, and Pskov were also on this rating. The rating was based on the hotel bookings made by family travelers in 2014. According to the results of the research, a trip of Russian citizens traveling with children around Russia lasted for five days on average, while the price of a night at a hotel came to 3,500 RUR on average. In Yekaterinburg, the average stay was three days long and cost 3,000

December 22, 2014. Yekaterinburg banks don’t seem to have enough foreign currency in cash: not every bank is able to sell a customer $1,000 or €1,000. Uralprivatbank reports it has no more dollars in its Pervomayskaya St branch. The one in Wilhelm de Genin St is out of euros. Promsvyazbank’s outlet in Nikolay Nikonov St says they are out of dollars and can only sell euros. Binbank’s branch in Sverdlov St claims they have no foreign currency in cash, while its branch in Bankovsky Lane is out of dollars but can still sell euros. MDM Bank’s branch in Lenin Ave says they have no cash whatsoever

December 19, 2014. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) scored the highest among Russian metallurgical enterprises in the National Purchase Transparency Rating 2014. The rating featured 420 major national and local purchases and corporate sector leaders. Compliance with the transparency and economic efficiency standards were used as the main criterion for ascribing the companies their rating positions. The National Purchase Transparency Rating 2014 was carried out by the National E-Traders Association, an independent non-governmental research center which specializes in economic and

December 19, 2014. The number of marriages registered at Sverdlovsk Region’s town halls dropped by 1,300 in the eleven months of 2014 compared with a year earlier, head of Sverdlovsk Region Civil Registry Office Tatiana Kuznetsova said at a press conference. At the same time, the number of divorces rose from 20,295 last year to 20,386 this year; birth rate has remained nearly the same (57,847 children were born in the eleven months of this year against 57,872 children in January-November 2013); the number of deaths stood at 55,055 people (54,546 a year earlier). ‘The decrease in the number of

December 19, 2014. Enel Russia (a subsidiary of Sredneuralskaya Power Station), Sverdlovsk Heating Power Supply Company, and a number of Yekaterinburg housing utilities companies are now undergoing administrative proceedings caused by the city residents’ numerous complaints regarding poor quality of hot water. The press service of Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) says over 150 complaints were laid with them in December regarding a very strong and pungent smell of hot water. Thus Enel Russia (a subsidiary of Sredneuralskaya Power Station),

December 19, 2014. The cosmetics chain Body Shop announced its Yekaterinburg outlet prices would rise 15% on Friday, December 19. ‘We were officially notified by the Moscow office that the entire product range would get 15% more expensive. It was said the price changes apply to all the stores in Russia,’ one of Body Shop’s local stores representative says. This is actually one of the very few perfumes and cosmetics chains that are going through with a price increase: other large chain stores such as L’Etoile and Ile de Beaute are now offering 40% discounts on everything they sell.

December 19, 2014. PepsiCo Russia is calling off a shipment of Pepsi bottles from Yekaterinburg and Nizhniy Tagil due to the possibility of glass contents in the drink, the company’s official statement goes. The shipment in question consists of 1.75-liter bottles made in PepsiCo Holding’s Yekaterinburg subsidiary between 3:15 PM on December 3 and 11:14 AM on December 4, 2014 (the time and date of the manufacture can be found on top of the bottles). ‘All customers who have bought this product are requested to call the hotline number 8-800-200-74-77 (toll-free in Russia) to have their drinks