August 4, 2014. A representative of Moscow Youth Club and member of Armada Paralympics Club Sergey Ustinov won the first prize in the World Cup cycling competition (Class C3); this was the first time a Russian sports player on the Russian national team did this. The final stage of UCI Paracycling World Cup took place in Cantimpalos, Segovia (Spain) on July 25-27, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. 379 sportsmen and women from 38 different countries took part in the competition. The sports players cycled on the difficult tracks with great determination. The steep rises and the

August 4, 2014. The Russian Government prepared a list of Russian one-employer towns that were classified along three categories based on how serious their socioeconomic problems are. The document was carried on the Cabinet’s official website. According to the government decree, six one-employer towns based in Sverdlovsk Region were in the category of those in the worst socioeconomic circumstances; the reasons for this include problems in the functioning of the businesses that provide workplaces for most of the local population. Among the problem one-employer towns are: Krasnoturyinsk,

August 4, 2014. A Yekaterinburg local is facing up to two years in prison for deliberately avoiding to pay back a loan that comes to over 2m RUR. Court officers instituted criminal proceedings against the man based on Article 177 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code, Sverdlovsk Region division of the Federal Service of Court Officers’ press service reports. According to the ruling of Yekaterinburg Zheleznodorozhny District Court, the man named B. had to pay 2.3m RUR to a private individual. The court officer instituted enforcement proceedings against the debtor, the man was duly informed

August 4, 2014. On July 21-27, the median price of a liter of gasoline in Yekaterinburg came to 32.25 RUR, the State Statistical Service’s report states. The median price of AI 92 was 30.86 RUR, that of AI 95 was 33.69 RUR, that of diesel fuel was 33.1 RUR. Gasoline prices went up in 62 Russian federal constituencies over last week. The increase was the greatest in Saratov: prices rose by 2%.

August 2, 2014. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) keeps working on promising types of steel for car makers and manufacturers of spare parts and components, the enterprise reports. The enterprise has mastered the technology for making rolled items that are 1.2mm thick so far. In the nearest future, a number of experimental batches will be made at the continuous hot dip galvanizing line and the continuous annealing/hot-dip galvanizing aggregate at Sheet-Rolling Shop 11; the products will be 2.0mm thick. MMK is planning to offer this new rolled metal products to customers for their

August 2, 2014. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) keeps working on new, promising kinds of steel meant for car and car parts manufacturers, the company’s press service reports. The enterprise has already tried making 1.2mm rolled stock successfully and is planning to make some pilot batches of 2.0mm rolled stock on its continuous hot-dip galvanizing line and on its continuous annealing/hot-dip galvanizing line at Rolling Mill 11. MMK intends to present this stock to customers so that they can carry out their internal tests which are necessary for approval and further use of the

August 1, 2014. The price Sverdlovsk Region-based consumers are now buying gasoline for rose by 4% compared with the beginning of the year, Head of Sverdlovskstat Elena Kutina said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. According to Kutina, diesel fuel prices, on the other hand, dropped by 0.3%. In June 2014, the median price of a liter of gasoline came to 31.73 RUR in Sverdlovsk Region. The median price of AI 92 gasoline was 30.31 RUR, that of AI 95 was 33.21 RUR, and that of diesel fuel was 33.19 RUR.

August 1, 2014. TMK-INOX, a joint venture run by Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) and Rosnano Corporation, is announcing an increase in welded stainless DIN EN10217, DIN 11850, and GOST 11068 prices; the new price list applies to all the newly signed contracts starting from August 1, 2014. The increase will reach up to 5%. According to TMK, this step was necessitated by the rising raw stuffs costs, namely, the cost of hot- and cold-rolled materials such as rolls that are used for making this variety of pipes. TMK INOX, TMK and Rosnano’s JV, was set up in 2010 on the basis of Sinara Pipe

August 1, 2014. ChTZ-Uraltrac, a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation, shipped one of its B12 bulldozers meant for operation in mountainous areas, to the Republic of Dagestan by order of Russia’s Federal Security Service frontier troops, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. The bulldozer is fitted with protection against falling trees and stones in the form of a special frame above the driver’s cabin. Metal grids that cover all of the cabin windows are an additional driver safety feature. What is more, the tractor has special fittings protecting the gearbox, the

August 1, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region-based large and medium enterprises made 23.5bn RUR worth of profit (with all the losses deducted) in January-May 2014. However, this is actually 49.3% less than in the first half of 2013, Sverdlovskstat reports. The profits of profit-making companies dropped by 24.3% and amounted to 54.9bn RUR compared with a year earlier. At the same time, some economic sectors did much better in terms of profit in January-May 2014; these are: agriculture, hunting, and forestry (the profit figures went up by 1.7 times compared with January-May 2013), construction (1.5

August 1, 2014. Karabashmed is starting to build new homes to relocate the local residents currently living within the plant’s sanitary protection zone. This is part of the company’s environmental program for 2010-2017. This program has been approved of by head of Chelyabinsk division of Rosprirodnadzor (the government environmental watchdog), by Mayor of Karabash, and by the Chairman of Karabash Deputy Assembly, Russian Copper Company’s PR Department reports. Two sections of modern apartment buildings are expected to be put up within the next two years: eight three-storey buildings (with two

July 31, 2014. The authorized capital of NPO Avtomatiki, a scientific & production association and a federal government-run unitary enterprise based in Yekaterinburg, increased by 2.66bn RUR, the organization’s report states. In early July, the enterprise went through with an issue of 2.66m of ordinary shares with face value of 1,000 RUR per item. The joint stock company’s shares can be, as it is reported, ‘purchased by the Russian Federation, Russian Federation constituencies or municipalities if the latter or its divisions are being restructured into a federal or local government-run

July 31, 2014. The U.S. Consulate in Yekaterinburg temporarily stopped issuing visas due to a technical problem within the passport and visa-issuing system, the US Consulate-General in Yekaterinburg’s website states. The same announcements were made via the US websites in other parts of Russia. The announcements explain that it is not only Russia but also other countries where the problem exists. The Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs says some systemic changes were made at the weekend aimed at an increase in productivity, which resulted in this technical problem. It is not

July 31, 2014. The worth of all the construction jobs completed within Sverdlovsk Region with the help of local resources amounted to 40.8bn RUR in January-June 2014, Sverdlovskstat reports. This figure was, in comparable scores, 5.8% lower than a year earlier. As for Russia on the whole, the figure declined by 2.6%. In fact, in the first half of 2014, 777,000 sq m worth of housing were commissioned in Sverdlovsk Region, which was twice as much as in the first half of 2013.

July 31, 2014. NPO Electromachine, one of Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s Chelyabinsk-based member enterprises, started introducing the principles of lean production. The company has already come up with a production system development plan based on this method. Some of the basic principles are already being used at some of the company’s processing departments, Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s press service reports. Personnel training is one of the first stages of the project. Nearly 100% of staff are expected to be trained. The enterprise is offering workshops on the

July 31, 2014. Omsktransmash (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) now offers a virtual tour of the company military and labor hall of fame on its website. Any visitor can now take a tour of the hall and have a look at the exhibits, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. Omsktransmash set up a hall of fame in 1980. The area of the hall comes to over 400 sq m, including 350 sq m of exhibition area. Hundreds of people visit the actual hall every year. Tours are offered to both the company employees and high school and college students. The hall of fame comprises some

July 30, 2014. Evgeniy Olkhovik was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors at Koltsovo Airport, the Yekaterinburg-based airport reports. The election took place during Koltsovo Airport BOD meeting on July 25. The airport’s company secretary was also elected during the meeting. Following the annual general meeting which was held on June 30, a new Board of Directors was elected as well. The BOD now comprises Andrei Shtorkh, Alexander Zaporozhskiy, Evgeniy Olkhovik, Evgeniy Chudnovskiy, Alexei Piskunov, Dmitri Kasatkin, Nikolai Ulyanov, and Oleg Fedotovskikh.

Moscow, July 29, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region residents proved some of the most active users of the United Government Services Portal in the first half of 2014, the Russian Telecommunications Ministry reports. People living in Sverdlovsk Region use the portal as often as those living in Moscow, Moscow Region, Saint Petersburg, and Samara Region. Checking for road fines, unpaid taxes, and being on the list of enforcement proceedings instituted by the Federal Service of Court Officers was the most popular service. Also, more people applied for international passports and pension savings online than

July 30, 2014. The e-banking system of the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development was declared the best in the Convenience of Payments & Data Layout category among the banks based in Central and Eastern Europe. The award was given out by the respected international magazine Global Finance which decides upon the best financial institutions all over the world every year, the bank’s press service reports. Winners were announced upon the completion of a large-scale research on e-banking systems for private individuals offered in six sectors of the world. Based on the research

July 30, 2014. Eric Trump, son of the American billionaire Donald Trump, is going to visit Yekaterinburg in the fall. He confirmed his participation in the international high-rise construction forum (100+Forum Russia) that will be held in Yekaterinburg on September 24-26 with the Russian Construction Ministry’s support, the forum’s press service says. Eric Trump is now executive Vice President, Development and Acquisitions, at The Trump Organization, one of the major US construction companies with a reputation for skyscrapers. One such skyscraper is Trump Tower, the world-renowned 58-storey