June 4, 2014. Making its new facilities pay off, all-round improvements in efficiency, and more focus on specific consumers remain Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works’ (MMK) key strategic priorities, the company’s Business Development & Efficiency Management Director Maxim Lapin said at the 22nd metallurgical summit that was held in Moscow under the auspices of Russian Steel Non-Commercial Partnership. Lapin believes that de-commoditization, that is, switching from supplying the market with non-specific, mass market goods (ingots, slabs, fittings, hot-rolled rolls, and standard-size

June 3, 2014. It was decided during the Supreme Hockey League Board meeting on May 30 that Sputnik Hockey Club and not Sputnik Sports Club should join the League. The hockey club was established as an independent legal entity and a non-commercial partnership, Uralvagonzavod's press service reports. The decision that was taken in the Board of Trustees' meeting was implemented. The new entity was set up by Sputnik Sports Club (whose general sponsor is Uralvagonzavod Corporation), Nizhniy Tagil Council, and Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Physical Education, Sports and Youth Policy.

June 3, 2014. Uralvagonzavod hosted its traditional 72nd track-and-field relay race for the Mashinostroitel prize. This contest became a whole-corporation event a long time ago. In 2014, 1,370 people ran the traditional 2,775-meter distance. In addition to Uralvagonzavod sports players, athletes from other member enterprises of Uralvagonzavod Corporation took part in the race. Workers from Nizhniy Tagil-based Uralcryomash, UBT-Uralvagonzavod, Ural Transport Machine-Building Design Office, and Ural Railway Carriage Design Office, Ural Scientific and Technological Division, representatives of

June 3, 2014. Uralkhimmash was fined for violating the existing sanitary legislation; the violations were detected in the course of an on-site inspection conducted by the experts of Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor. According to the agency's press service, most of the violations detected had to do with failure to provide acceptable working conditions and failure to meet the current hygienic regulations for dust and pollutants content in the air within production departments. It was also determined that the licensing agreement on the use of ionizing radiation source was not

June 3, 2014. The fan zone in Mayakovsky Central Park in Yekaterinburg is expected to be expanded for the World Football Championship of 2018 so that it can fit 35,000 people, Director of The Urals' Capital Anna Baichibayeva said at a press conference today. The venue that is now being prepared for hosting the visitors to Supporters' Festival in Yekaterinbrg in 2014 is only big enough for 5,000 people. 'Under the FIFA requirements, a fan zone must be at least as big as to host 35,000 viewers. We are now considering the idea of putting up a fan zone in the park. The current

June 2, 2014. According to the data provided by SverdlovskStat, 437,600 sq m of housing got built in Sverdlovsk Region in January-April 2014, with financing provided from all the possible budgets and private funds. This figure is 2.3 times bigger than in January-April 2013, Sverdlovsk Region Economics Ministry's press service reports. Private builders put up 63.4% of all this housing (277,600 sq m), which is 1.8 times bigger than in January-April 2013. 28,300 sq m of economy class housing were commissioned in Sverdlovsk Region in the four months of 2014; this was 2 times more than a year

June 2, 2014. 82% of Russian restaurateurs expect a complete ban on smoking to result in declining numbers of visitors, the findings of Yuri Levada Center's recent research on a complete ban on smoking in restaurants on June 1, 2014 state. This information was provided by activists of the Smokers' Rights Movement. Most of restaurant business owners and managers surveyed (82%) believe that a complete ban on smoking in restaurants will effect a drop in the number of customers. 17% of respondents feel that the customer turnover will remain the same. Only one of those surveyed expects a

June 2, 2014. ChTPZ Group directs some money to organizing summer holidays and leisure activities for children of Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant's employees this year. According to the company's press service, more than 4,000 kids will be able to enjoy a vacation in the company summer camps Yelanchik and Gagarinsky in June, July, and August. The first 'season' will begin on the eve of Children's Protection Day. 'ChTPZ Group has actually made investing in good quality children's holidays its tradition. The Group's company

June 2, 2014. As of May 27, 2014, Yegorshinsky Radio Plant transferred 5.8m RUR to the bank card accounts of its former employees after selling its assets, Sverdlovsk Region Government's press secretary reports. Besides, 500,000 RUR were directed to payments of writs of execution issued by court officers, including 103,800 RUR relating to moral damage. All in all, the plant's former employees received 6.3m RUR. Now under the agreement the staff representatives, the new plant's management, and the trustee in bankruptcy signed in April 2014, the sum total was to have come to 5.6m

June 2, 2014. The Director-General of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation Oleg Sienko paid a two-day visit to Algeria in the capacity of Chairman of the Russian Section of the Russian-Algerian Business Council; he also took part in the Council's meeting involving both the Russian and the Algerian parties. In his speech, Sienko stressed the importance of the Council's efficiency in the development of fruitful cooperation between both countries. 'The Russian-Algerian Business Council was set up in March 2006 and has proved an efficient mechanism that promotes

May 30, 2014. Based on the results of the latest tax declaration campaign, the number of billionaires living in Sverdlovsk Region is currently down to four. Last year, 7 people declared an income of over 1bn RUR, Head of Sverdlovsk Region branch of Russia’s Federal Tax Service Division for Taxation of Private Individuals’ Income & Property Lidia Isayeva said. As for millionaires, the number of these actually went up. ’11,200 residents of Sverdlovsk Region stated an income of over 1m RUR in their tax declarations last year. This is 6.5% more than a year earlier. This year, we received

May 30, 2014. LEPSE (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation) was awarded the Dependable Reputation Medal and a laureate’s certificate in the Best Employers in Volga Federal District 2014 Contest; the event was organized by StatExpert Research Institute, Moscow. ‘The experts from among the employees of and visitors to the employment services and recruiting agencies located in the largest cities in Volga Federal District gave a very high estimate of how the company operates and commented on the splendid working conditions, clever HR policy, ever-timely

May 30, 2014. ChTZ-Uraltrac (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) launched a container filling station that was designed and produced by OOO AltaiSpetsIzdeliya in Barnaul by order of Uralvagonzavod. According to the corporation’s press service, the symbolic red ribbon was cut in the course of the opening ceremony by ChTZ Deputy Director for Corporate and Property Issues Alexander Anikin, Director-General of UBT-UVZ Igor Korkunov, and Director of UBT’s ChTZ-Uraltrac branch Allan Varziyev. The new filling station does not require any underground tanks and can be used in an

May 30, 2014. Prices on Yekaterinburg existing homes market have been gradually going up over the last five months. All in all, the prices are now 3% higher than in January, the spokesperson for Ural Chamber of Real Estate reports. The price changes vary between 1.4% and 3.7% depending on the market segment. According to the Chamber’s Analytical Department, the average offering price of a square meter of housing on the apartments put up to sale on the existing homes market in Yekaterinburg came to 74,969 RUR on May 26, 2014. ‘The existing homes supply was shrinking in the first quarter of the

May 30, 2014. The median speed of Internet connection rose by over four times in Russia in the course of two years. In the first three months of 2014, Ural Federal District had the highest median speed – 60 Mbit/sec against 34 Mbit/sec a year earlier. At the same time, the Internet access is also the cheapest in the Urals, Svyaznoy reports. According to this source, the median connection speed offered by ISPs was around 31 Mbit/sec. By the end of Q1’14, the figure rose to 45 Mbit/sec. The increase was over 300% in the first three months of 2014 compared with the first quarter of 2012. The

May 29, 2014. Kamenskoye dairy farm (a member enterprise of Sinara Group) won a diploma in the 14th annual Dairy Foods & Ice Cream Quality Festival. Following an anonymous tasting procedure, the milk produce by this farm was awarded the 1st degree diploma among pasteurized drinking milk varieties. The best agricultural enterprises of Sverdlovsk Region competed for the victory in this key category, Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. The board of jurors comprised representatives of agricultural ministries and departments, dairy food quality testing laboratories, and experts from the Chamber

May 29, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region interregional public prosecution authorities for transportation checked the compliance of Bogdanovich Mineral Wool Batt Plant (BZMVP) with the air protection legislation. ‘It was detected that the company’s production process involves using 20 air-polluting facilities, 12 of which are stationary. What is more, the plant does not actually keep track of air pollutants it emits and has no documentation on the maximum permissible discharge limits or an emission permit,’ the press service of Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution authorities reports. Following the

May 29, 2014. Yekaterinburg Council is going to have 200 colored containers installed in the parts of the city that are close to the Shirokaya Rechka landfill as part of the local dual waste treatment program before the end of 2014. According to Yekaterinburg Council’s press service, the city currently runs 694 special orange-colored containers on 292 sites; these are meant for collecting recyclable materials.

May 29, 2014. The plastic card transactions turnover normally rises by 15% to 20% during the summer vacation period and reaches a peak in June through August. However, this year’s top season took off as early as the beginning of May thanks to the long May recess, Bank Koltso Urala’s press service reports. ‘The amount of transactions relating to purchasing train and airplane tickets usually increases quite noticeably in the first summer months (by 81% in June and by 86% in July). A little while later, bank card holders start booking and paying for their hotel stays (the increase is 20% in July

May 29, 2014. 10 new cultural heritage objects were registered in Sverdlovsk Region over the last two months, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s website states. Nine objects were detected on the premises of the Kremlin building in Verkhoturye. The special cultural heritage status was ascribed to the local treasury, the gunpowder magazine, the pantry, the north-western and the south-western towers, the northern and the western fortress walls, the guard-house, the cook-house, and the magistrate’s house. ‘In order to maintain and popularize the local Kremlin, experts from a state-run Scientific