January 15, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region Public Property Ministry inspected 19,238 hectares worth of agricultural land in 2013, and it was detected that 1,918.1 hectares altogether were misused, the Ministry's press service reports. 863 hectares were misused in Kamensky District, 161.3 hectares were misused in Sysert District, 138 hectares were misused in Berezovsky, and 135 hectares, 18 hectares, and 678 hectares were misused in Beloyarsky, Gornouralsky, and Baikalovsky Districts, respectively. Following inspections by Sverdlovsk Region Public Property Ministry, rental contracts are now

January 13, 2014. Urban Transport Solutions/UTS, a member enterprise of Sinara Transport Machiens (Russia) and CAF Group (Spain) presented its new development – a prototype of a new carriage for Moscow Underground – at the 20th pavilion of the All-Russian Exhibition Center in Mocsow, Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. The new underground train can have 4 to 8 carriages attached to it and will be able to travel at up to 100 km/h; its passenger capacity is also very impressive. The carriages are provided with convenient exits, including those for people with disabilities. Interior navigation and

January 13, 2014. Vladimir Roshchupkin, the executive director of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation, was given the Russian Ministry of Emergencies award, the corporation’s press service reports. The corporation’s top official was given a commemorative medal of the Russian MoE called Marshall Vassily Chuikov on the eve of the New Year break ‘for flawless dedication to civil defense, prevention of and dealing with consequences of emergencies, high quality performance at work, and to celebrate the 81st anniversary of Civil Defense in Russia.’

January 13, 2014. Ural Airlines announced a decrease in prices for Yekaterinburg-Tel Aviv and Tel Aviv-Yekaterinburg flights. Starting January 12, 2014, all the round trip tickets will be ?52 cheaper, and all the one-way tickets will be ?26 cheaper, the airline’s press service reports. ‘Ural Airlines’ customers can travel to Israel at the most attractive prices: the airline is using the early and late booking options for round trip tickets. If you book two or less days before the flight, the ticket will come to ?256 (including all the fees and charges). If you plan ahead and book your tickets

January 13, 2014. Bank Koltso Urala came up with a preliminary financial report for 2013. According to the bank’s Economics & Business Planning Department’s Head Evgeny Aleksenko, the bank’s pre-tax profit exceeded 700m RUR last year, and the year’s profitability amounted to the impressive 28%. The bank’s net profit comes to some 555.5m RUR for the twelve months of 2013, the bank’s press service reports. Besides, the bank’s balance sheet total increased by 6bn RUR, which was more than 12% than a year earlier. Aleksenko says that in 2014, the bank will keep on implementing its strategy

January 13, 2014. MegaFon specialists blocked about 1 billion spam texts, including scams and other illegal content ones, in 2013. Thanks to the mobile operator’s efforts, customers were protected against annoying ads that are so criticized only too justly, the company’s press service says. ‘A detailed analysis of the customer queries has shown that our customers have been receiving a huge amount of messages related to advertising drugs, sexual services, financial schemes and other dubious or outright illegal kinds of texts alongside regular ads.’ ‘MegaFon experts block over 300,000 such

January 10, 2013. Uralvagonzavod Corporation carried a financial report drawn up in accordance with the IAS for 2010-2012 for the first time, the corporation's press service reports. The corporation members are positive that this is going to become an important step on the way to getting rated by the international agencies such as Fitch, Moody's, S&P in the first quarter of 2014 faster. This means the corporation will become more investment-attractive and get access to the market of more affordable financial resources. The three-year consolidated financial audit was conducted by

January 10, 2013. Uralcryomash, a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation, made some profit for the first time over the last few years. The revenues of Nizhniy Tagil-based enterprise reached 2,372,63m RUR in the eleven months of 2013 alone, and the net profit came to 48.52m RUR, the corporation's press service reports. 'The results of this performance mean Uralcryomash will be able to carry production upgrades and improve the employees' working conditions. Last year, a flame metal-cutting unit was installed at the plant, for example. The unit is currently used for

January 10, 2013. Transport Machine-Building Design Office (KBTM, a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod), looked into the preliminary results of 2013. Meeting the government defense order was one of the primary success indicators for this year: KBTM made three times more goods and did three times more work within this order last year than a year earlier, Uralvagonzavod Corporation's press service reports. The enterprise is now investing heavily in production upgrades. Some of the departments have been given new equipment for the first time since 1985. KBTM becoming Russia's only

January 10, 2013. Uralvagonzavod Corporation member enterprises launched a special New Year Campaign with festive events for employees and their children, Uralvagonzavod Corporation's press service reports. A show for children and adults was coordinated at I.V. Okunev Palace of Culture at the corporation's head plant in Nizhniy Tagil: there were 26 children's shows called A Trip to Lapland and 10 game shows in the palace square as well as 10 shows for the older spectators and a number of office parties. There were some 70 different events altogether. The best teams of

January 10, 2013. Yekaterinburg-based Uraltransmash, one of Uralvagonzavod Corporation's key divisions, finished the year off in a very impressive way: the company fulfilled the government defense order for the year 2013 as early as November, the corporation's press service reports. 'The target figures for civil goods output were also met: this year, Uraltransmash made and sold 51 trams. This is the largest figure since the time tram production was actually launched at the plant. All these trams were delivered to various Russian cities,' the message says. The 71-407 trams

January 10, 2013. Burevestnik Scientific Research Institute that is based in Nizhniy Novgorod and is a member of Uralvagonzavod Corporation fulfilled the government defense order for 2013, the corporation's press service reports. The company managed to improve all of its performance indicators over the year. For one, the company's production output went up by 1.5 times in 2013 compared with 2012 and reached 4.5bn RUR (including an 10% increase in the R&D sector, a 73% increase in the mass production sector, and a 59% increase in exports). Sales actually doubled and amounted to

January 10, 2014. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) and Ulyanovsky Car Factory (UAZ) signed a cooperation agreement for 2014, MMK reports. Under this agreement, MMK is to deliver some 60,000,000 kg of rolled metal goods in 2014, which will fully cover the car factory’s flat rolled product needs. The range of products varies from hot- and cold-rolled goods to etched rolled goods to rolled goods with special coatings. The agreement also provides for a pricing formula that will correspond with the changes on the metal goods market. ‘Building up on its cooperation with the car making

December 27, 2013. Burevestnik, a scientific research institute and a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation, fulfilled the government defense order 2013 for the production of naval guns. The company did not stop there and is now working on the range of А190-01 goods pertaining to the order for 2014, Uralvagonzavod's press service reports. Under the Russian Government's decree, Burevestnik has been producing 100mm automatic naval guns А190-01 since 2011. А190-01 was designed by Burevestnik engineers for different kinds of vessels with tonnage of

December 27, 2013. RBC.Rating carried a rating of non-Moscow-based Russian banks recently. The banks' net asset volume as of October 1, 2013 was the primary assessment criterion. The list featured 402 banks with headquarters outside Moscow, SKB-Bank reports. Saint Petersburg proved the non-capital federal constituency with the densest banking network, followed by Dagestan, Tatarstan, Sverdlovsk Region, Samara Region, Rostov Region, Tyumen Region, and Krasnodar Territory. Each of the above-mentioned federal constituencies has over 15 different banks registered in them, yet only a few of

December 27, 2013. In 2013, Bank Koltso Urala's customers opened twice as many settlement accounts at the bank as in 2012, with the weekly number of opened accounts rising by 50% compared with the average figures for last year, and by 200% compared with the year 2011, the bank's press service reports. 'The growing speed of new settlement accounts opening at our bank has to do with the clever tariff policy for our cash and settlement services. For two years, Bank Koltso Urala has been very sensitive to its customers' demands and offering a variety of options ranging from

December 27, 2013. Ural Airlines celebrated its 20th anniversary recently. The solemn reception took place at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. Exactly two decades ago, Sverdlovsk Aviation Company was divided into the airline and the airport, thus producing the Ural Airlines' brand. Over these twenty years, the airline has lived through quite a number of successes, and it is today one of Russia's largest air carriers with an extensive network of foreign partners, which cooperation allows the airline to offer its passengers a full range of services, the airline's press service reports.

December 27, 2013. Uralvagonzavod – Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation's head plant – came up with an end-of-year performance report in the HR sector in the course of a weekly meeting of the company's trade union leaders. This time, the meeting was also attended by Deputy Director-General for HR Svetlana Ivanilova, the corporation's press service says. Ms Ivanilova said in her report that even though 2013 was not a 100% successful year for Uralvagonzavod, the living standards still remained good for the plant's employees. For example, the median monthly

December 26, 2013. A fee-paying parking zone will be introduced in the central streets of Yekaterinburg on February1, 2014, Yekaterinburg Council’s press service reports. On Tuesday, December 24, the first 17 parking machines were installed in the city; the machines that are meant to be used for paying for the parking slot will appear in Vosmoye Marta St (from Lenin St to Malyshev St), Sacco I Vanzetti St (from Lenin St to Malyshev St), and Popov St before the end of the year. Starting on January 1, 2014, the machines will be operating in the test mode. A month later, drivers will have to pay

December 26, 2013. A solemn opening ceremony of a new exhibition pavilion of Electrokhimpribor took place in Lesnoy on December 23, the company’s information center reports. The exhibition was officially opened by the company Director-General Andrei Novikov, Mayor of Lesnoy Victor Grishin, and Sverdlovsk Region Vice Premier Alexander Petrov. The ceremony was also attended by representatives of the enterprise management, town council, and education department as well members of the enterprise trade union and expert board, and local residents. ‘The new exhibition pavilion houses weaponry