January 31, 2014. In 2013, four kinds of vehicles manufactured by Omsk-based Transport Machine-Building Design Office (KBTM) were put into service of the Russian Federation Armed Forces: the power-actuated bridging vehicle (MMK), the amphibious tracked vehicle PTS 4, the amphibian PDP ferry, and the bridge-laying tank MTU-90M, says Uralvagonzavod Corporation (KBTM is a member enterprise of the corporation). Every single one of these vehicles can perform a range of very complicated tasks. For one, the PTS 4 is meant for assault troop, artillery system, infantry fighting vehicle, automobile,

January 31, 2014. MegaFon started delivering static and media content for the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK), the company's press service reports. MegaFon's content delivery network (CDN) unites a number of servers located in the large Russian cities into a single system, which allows for greater Internet download speed for the end users. The CDN service is a must for any large media company if quick and uninterrupted user access to content is to be ensured for bulky data packages. MegaFon launched its CDN services on a commercial scale in 2012;

January 30, 2014. The employees of ChTZ-Uraltrac (a tractor plant that is a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) shipped 6 B10M bulldozers to the local division of Rosgeologia in Irkutsk, Uralvagozavod’s press service reports. The vehicles are fitted with the forest-type protection of the Fleco variety, that is, a steel frame over the pit and the bonnet that protects both the driver and the vehicle from the falling trees. The bulldozers will actually be employed for all kinds of jobs, including clearing the strips of forest land off all vegetation so that a geological survey unit

January 30, 2014. The Director of UralNIIproyekt RAASN Alexander Dolgov and Director of OOO Terem Victor Siminenko were asked to prepare the cost estimates of having the historic walls of Yekaterinburg Central Stadium relocated, the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policies Department reports. Alexander Dolgov and Victor Siminenko have already presented several projects on the reconstruction of the stadium that is expected to host four World Cup matches in 2018. Under the first project, walls would be cut down to several parts, relocated and re-assembled at a new site. Under the

January 30, 2014. This year, the inflow of foreign travelers to Sverdlovsk Region might increase because of a simplified visa issuance procedure for the in-transit passengers; this simplified procedure option is now being discussed by the legislative authorities. The procedure in question would mean that transit passengers from 45 different countries arriving to Russian airports would be able to enjoy a 72-hour visa-free admission regime here, Director of Tourism Development Center Elmira Tukanova said at a press conference. ‘We made sure we took part in the international exhibitions in those

January 30, 2014. The Central Bank feels that as this virtual currency is issued anonymously, private individuals and legal entities might (even accidentally) get involved in some unlawful activities, Bank Koltso Urala states. ‘The Bank of Russia warns both private individuals and legal entities, lending institutions and non-lending financial institutions first and foremost, against the use of ‘virtual currency’, that is, exchanging this for goods (work, services) or legal tenders such as rubles or foreign currency. According to Article 27 of the Federal Act on the Central Bank of the Russian

January 30, 2014. Russian travelers have been unable to leave Phuket Airport for Yekaterinburg since January 27 because UTair’s chartered flight 5 140 gets delayed. Their Boeing 757-200 was to have taken off at 9:50 AM on January 27 but the departure was actually put off till another day. UTair’s chartered flight 5 140 from Phuket to Yekaterinburg is delayed because our Boeing 757-200 aircraft arrived in Phuket late. This, in its turn, had to do with a series of delays (caused by other factors)of a number of other flights that this particular plane was used for,’ the airline’s press service

January 29, 2014. The employees of ChTZ-Uraltrac (a tractor plant that is a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) shipped 6 B10M bulldozers to the local division of Rosgeologia in Irkutsk, Uralvagozavod’s press service reports. The vehicles are fitted with the forest-type protection of the Fleco variety, that is, a steel frame over the pit and the bonnet that protects both the driver and the vehicle from the falling trees. The bulldozers will actually be employed for all kinds of jobs, including clearing the strips of forest land off all vegetation so that a geological survey unit

January 29, 2014. The Director of UralNIIproyekt RAASN Alexander Dolgov and Director of OOO Terem Victor Siminenko were asked to prepare the cost estimates of having the historic walls of Yekaterinburg Central Stadium relocated, the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policies Department reports. Alexander Dolgov and Victor Siminenko have already presented several projects on the reconstruction of the stadium that is expected to host four World Cup matches in 2018. Under the first project, walls would be cut down to several parts, relocated and re-assembled at a new site. Under the

January 29, 2014. This year, the inflow of foreign travelers to Sverdlovsk Region might increase because of a simplified visa issuance procedure for the in-transit passengers; this simplified procedure option is now being discussed by the legislative authorities. The procedure in question would mean that transit passengers from 45 different countries arriving to Russian airports would be able to enjoy a 72-hour visa-free admission regime here, Director of Tourism Development Center Elmira Tukanova said at a press conference. ‘We made sure we took part in the international exhibitions in those

January 29, 2014. The Central Bank feels that as this virtual currency is issued anonymously, private individuals and legal entities might (even accidentally) get involved in some unlawful activities, Bank Koltso Urala states. ‘The Bank of Russia warns both private individuals and legal entities, lending institutions and non-lending financial institutions first and foremost, against the use of ‘virtual currency’, that is, exchanging this for goods (work, services) or legal tenders such as rubles or foreign currency. According to Article 27 of the Federal Act on the Central Bank of the Russian

January 29, 2014. Russian travelers have been unable to leave Phuket Airport for Yekaterinburg since January 27 because UTair’s chartered flight 5 140 gets delayed. Their Boeing 757-200 was to have taken off at 9:50 AM on January 27 but the departure was actually put off till another day. UTair’s chartered flight 5 140 from Phuket to Yekaterinburg is delayed because our Boeing 757-200 aircraft arrived in Phuket late. This, in its turn, had to do with a series of delays (caused by other factors)of a number of other flights that this particular plane was used for,’ the airline’s press service

January 28, 2014. The Russian online hotel booking service called Oktogo.ru came up with the list of the most popular tourist destinations in Russia last year. In terms of cities most often traveled to, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Sochi, Nizhniy Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Krasnodar, Kaliningrad, and Yaroslavl were the top ten cities, The rating offered by Oktogo.ru was based on the online hotel booking data relating to the Russian citizens’ booking activity in 2013. ‘In 2013, Russian residents stayed in Yekaterinburg for three days and paid 3,700 RUR a day for their hotel

January 28, 2014. The iPhone 5S and 5C smartphones now get MegaFon 4G/LTE support, the telecommunications provider’s press service reports. ‘Starting January 25, a new update that activates Russia’s largest 4G network is available for Apple iPhone 5S and 5C smartphones. The super-fast mobile network that can offer up to 100 Mb/sec in terms of speed is now available to the owners of four smartphone varieties: : iPhone 5S — A1457 and A1530 and iPhone 5C — A1507 and A1529. As early as November 2013, MegaFon’s 4G network also became available to the owners of other Apple devices such as the

January 28, 2014. 94,394 new passenger and light commercial vehicles were sold in Yekaterinburg last year, which was 6% or 5,796 cars less than in 2012, Auto-Dealer-Yekaterinburg reports. ‘8,631 automobiles were sold in Yekaterinburg in December, which was 1% or 73 cars more than in December 2012. For the second month in a row, the local automobile market kept growing. The last time the two-month market growth occurred was in early 2013 (January and February), whereupon sales kept declining every month,’ the agency’s message states. Lada still remains the best-selling vehicle of the year in

January 28, 2014. ChTPZ Group delivered a set of arc-welded pipes to the Byelorussian oil company Naftan. The pipes have the diameter of 530mm to 820mm and wall width of 10mm to 14mm; they are made from carbonated steel and will be used to reconstruct the primary crude oil processing unit, the pipe-rolling enterprise’s press service reports. ‘This order is specific in that we have to meet the customer’s particularly strict property requirements: the metal strength and the quality of the seam were tested at the temperature of 25 degrees centigrade below zero (the GOST standard requires that

January 28, 2014. Two Behringer band saw machines, one automated and one semi-automated one, were recently bought by Plant 9, a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation. This was part of the plant’s technical upgrade program. The equipment has already been installed and is expected to reach its full production capacity in the spring of 2014, Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s press service reports. The machines were purchased for the blank production sector and are supposed to replace the abrasive cutting-off equipment soon. Unlike this

January 27, 2014. UTair Aviation Company had the greatest number of emergencies last year among all the air carriers based in Ural Federal District, the district’s Deputy Public Prosecutor for Transportation Maxim Grishayev said at a press conference. ‘This was the case last year and the year before the last. However, the reason for such statistics is that the company operates over 400 aircraft,’ he explained. According to Grishayev, in most instances, the airplanes had to perform emergency landings because of false warnings. ‘The overall security index stands at more than 90% for all the

January 27, 2014. Experts from Municipal Transport Inspection carried out 1,102 inspections of how Yekaterinburg passenger transportation companies complied with their contract terms in 2013. The city council’s press service reports that 1,972 violations were detected, resulting in 159 warnings and 45 fines. ‘The violations mainly had to do with the schedule of these transportation companies, the insufficient number of carriages at work, and with the sanitary condition of the vehicles. What is more, inspectors tracked down the illegal operators that dealt in passenger transportation without a

January 27, 2014. An encyclopedia dedicated to the employees of Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ, a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod) was published recently. According to the corporation’s press service, the Book on ChTZ People that was published by Chelyabinsk House of the Press, is an encyclopedia-style reference book on the enterprise employees with biographical sections on the workers who actually put up the plant, on the Great Patriotic War veterans, on workers with government awards, on outstanding service employees who became well known in Chelyabinsk Region and in Russia, on social