December 3, 2014. Yekaterinburg proved to be one of Russia’s top five cities to visit in 2014, Travel.ru claims. The website’s rating was based on the data available on this year’s tourist bookings. The top ten best places to visit in Russia are Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Sochi, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, Nizhniiy Novgorod, Perm, Novosibirsk, and Samara. According to Travel.ru, this year travelers make 3.5-day trips around Russia on average and spend an average of 3,900 RUR per night in a hotel (which is 15% less than abroad). As for Yekaterinburg, tourists arrive for three days and

December 3, 2014. Yekaterinburg was given the third position in the rating of international brands as they are represented in Russian cities this year; this rating was drawn up by Magazin Magazinov and featured the country’s thirty-six largest cities. ‘The first five positions have been given to the same cities over the last few years (2011-2014): Moscow is on top of the list, with 90% of all the international brands operating in Russia running their outlets in the capital; Saint Petersburg is in the second place (50%) and Yekaterinburg is in the third place (37%). Krasnodar (32%) and

December 3, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region came third in Generalny Director magazine’s rating of Russian constituencies with the best investment climate. The constituency is Russia’s fifth best place in terms of labor force available, third best place in terms of demand for everyday commodities, fifth best place in terms of demand for long-term use goods, sixty-first best place in terms of economic growth rate, fifty-eighth best place in terms of infrastructure development, and second best in terms of fiscal system development. Now Moscow was on top of this rating, and Kaliningrad Region was given

December 3, 2014. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development landed a contract with MOTIV Group: the telecommunications provider will now use the bank’s acquiring services, so all of its subscribers can put money into their mobile phone account online at motivtelecom.ru using their Visa card (issued by any bank). All you need to do is fill in a special form on the company website, providing your phone number, the amount of money you’d like to put into your account, and your bank card details. The UBRD, the acquiring bank, does not charge any commission for the service, the bank’s

December 2, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s member enterprises organized a number of festive events to celebrate Mother’s Day, the corporation’s press service says. For one, Kirov-based LEPSE paid money bonuses to women with many children: there are currently seventy-four such female workers at the plant. Kamensk Uralsky Foundry Plant congratulated the members of the fair sex working for the company as well. Around 50% of the plant’s workers are female, and all of them are actually mothers. Mothers employed at Yurga Machine-Building Plant were congratulated, too: the plant currently

December 2, 2014. ChTPZ Group took part in the 6th International Vocational Education & Business Forum: Partners’ Dialogue in Astana. The forum was chaired by Kazakhstan’s Vice Premier Berdibek Saparbayev According to the Group’s press service, the forum was attended by deputies of Kazakh Parliament, heads of respective ministries and departments and councils, and representatives of national and international companies, professional associations, and educational establishments. Russia was represented by Chelyabinsk Region Education & Science Minister Alexander Kuznetsov, head of

December 2, 2014. Ural Airlines offered its Wings Club members new quests to go through, the airline’s press service reports. ‘‘Family in the Sky’ is one good reason to take your entire family on a trip. ‘Invite a Friend’ means you can invite your friends to join Wings Club and get 200 bonuses for each of your friends’ registration as well as 2,000 bonus rubles for every trip a friend makes. Frequent fliers will enjoy ‘1,000 Li’ – 1,000 bonuses for every 5,000 km you fly with the airline. Finally, there is ‘The Equator’ – 10,000 bonus rubles for 40,000 km you fly with Ural Airlines. You can

December 2, 2014. Yekaterinburg housing market output rose by 11% in the nine months of 2014 compared with January-September 2013 as well as increased by 6% in comparison with the previous all-time high reached last December. 2.8m sq m worth of housing was put in Yekaterinburg by September 2014, Ural Chamber of Real Estate’s Analytical Department reports. The construction tempo was also on the rise, so around 1m sq m worth of new housing might be commissioned by developers by the end of the year. As for Yekaterinburg’s satellites, 308,000 sq m worth of housing (mostly apartments in

December 2, 2014. An electrician from Neiva, a gold-mining cooperative, has recently been charged with violation of safety rules at work, which resulted in serious damage to human health. The spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Investigative Committee’s Investigative Department, the accused violated safety rules when working as a steeplejack, when maintaining electric units, and when dismantling electric mains in May-August 2014. ‘The said safety rules violations resulted in an accident involving a 47-year-old team member on August 16, 2014. The man was standing on

December 1, 2014. Second-year students of a local technical school were given a guided tour of Kamensk Uralsky Foundry Plant (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation). According to the corporation’s press service, the students, whose current educational bent is in technical regulation and quality management, were shown the day-to-day performance of quality engineers and the core production departments. ‘The tour of the plant’s premises was designed in such a way as to let the young students see the making of a product first: they could see how a spare part is made with the help of a

December 1, 2014. A cooperation agreement was signed by ChTPZ Group and WorldSkills Russia during the WSR General Assembly, coordinated with the support of the Russian Federation Education & Science Ministry and the Agency for Strategic Initiatives. ‘The paper was signed by ChTPZ Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant’s HR Director Alexander Luzhbin and WSR Director Pavel Chernykh,’ ChTPZ Group’s press service says. During the ceremony, the two parties said they were both eager to unite their efforts to enhance the prestige of blue-collar jobs, to popularize and develop vocational education

December 1, 2014. The Board of Directors of Yekaterinburg-based Koltsovo Airport (a member enterprise of Regional Airports Holding) adopted a long-term investment program for the company. According to the airport’s press service, the program will run through 2020 and covers directing money to fixed assets construction, technical upgrades of existing facilities, and IT infrastructure development. The investments are expected to amount to more than 6bn RUR. The better part of the money will go to fixed asset construction over the next six years. For one, the airport’s international arrivals and

December 1, 2014. Starting on December 1, new parking meters will be installed in Khokhryakov St, Sacco & Vanzetti St, Radishchev St, Rosa Luxembourg St, Pushkin St, and Belinsky St in Yekaterinburg, the city council’s press service reports. This means that the fee-charging parking space downtown will expand from 450 to 1,050 slots. ‘We selected the busiest streets where cars get parked in several rows. The idea is to increase the road network traffic capacity, to promote parking culture, and to offer pedestrians more comfort. The pilot parking area has proved very efficient so far. We

December 1, 2014. The amount of tax liabilities (including fines and tax penalties) controlled by Sverdlovsk Region-based tax inspectorates rose by 456.44m RUR (1.7%) in October 2014 and thus stood at 27,006.75m RUR, Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Tax Service’s press officer reports. In the eleven months of the year 2014, however, the overall tax debt figure dropped by 337.94m RUR (1.2%). Over 683,000 requests for payment of taxes and levies (totaling to 22,689.21m RUR) have been delivered to taxpayers since the beginning of the year. Roughly around a half of these requests

November 28, 2014. Only two-thirds of Russian companies are planning to have New Year parties for employees; every one in five businesses can’t make up their mind just yet, Superjob reports. A survey involving 2,000 HR managers and other personnel departments representatives working for Russian companies revealed the following: 65% of respondents confirmed their companies had already made plans for a New Year party. 41% of such businesses are going to have one at a restaurant, 14% are planning to celebrate at the office, 4% will go to the countryside, and 6% will decide on some other way of

November 28, 2014. Nizhniy Tagil Council is currently negotiating with METRO Cash & Carry on the construction of their shopping outlet in the city, Vse Novosti refers to Nizhniy Tagil Industrial Policy & Business Development Director Andrei Sedykh as saying in his interview to Ecoradio. The supermarket is expected to be built next to the city’s Southern Entrance. No specific deadlines have been set yet. As for Sverdlovsk Region altogether, the only METRO Cash & Carry outlets here are located in Yekaterinburg: there are three METRO supermarkets there.

November 28, 2014. Milk and dairy products prices will keep rising despite government control and surveillance, Ilya Bondarev, Chairman of Urals’ Stock Farmers Union, a non-profit organization, said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg today. He explained milk grew more expensive because of the weakened ruble and because of the way harvesting campaign turned out in Sverdlovsk Region. ‘We had a difficult time harvesting the year, it was impossible to stock up on good quality forage. The raw stuffs output might therefore go down. Besides, agricultural vehicles became more expensive, as did

November 28, 2014. Ural Federal District’s consumer price index came to 105.5% in September 2014. For food items, the figure came to 107.9%, for non-food ones – to 103.9%, for services – to 105.3%, Sverdlovskstat reports. Ural Federal District’s residents received 471.3bn RUR worth of services in January through September 2014. This is 1.7% more (as measured by volume) than in January-September 2013.

November 28, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation coordinated a professional skills contest for its process and design engineers. According to the corporation’s press service, over sixty young workers from the corporation’s member enterprises have joined in the contest for the first time this year. They come from Nizhniy Tagil-based Uralvagonzavod and Ural Scientific & Technological Integrated Works, Nizhniy Novgorod-based Burevestnik Scientific Research Institute, Omsk-based Omsktransmash, and Yekaterinburg-based Uraltransmash and Plant 9. There were two stages to

November 27, 2014. ORENAIR is not planning on re-launching its Yekaterinburg-Hannover flight in the spring and summer of 2015, the airline’s press service informed UrBC. As a matter of fact, the air carrier introduced a direct Yekaterinburg-Hannover flight on June 3, 2014; flights were operated through September 9. According to Koltsovo Airport’s press service, no application was submitted for the flight in the fall/winter season. ‘This was actually a seasonal flight that was only offered in the summer. 30 round trips were offered to customers, with 50% seat occupancy on average. This is