October 9, 2013. ChTZ-Uraltrac, a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation, completes the shipment of goods to two daughter enterprises of Geotech Holding, the corporation's press service reports. 'Ten vehicles – five swamp tractors and five bulldozers fitted with emergency manholes in the pits - are to be delivered to Naryan-Mar Seismorazvedka.' Six vehicles have been shipped already. The remaining four items will have been shipped by October 20 first to Arkhangelsk port by railway and then to Nenetsky Autonomous Region by sea. Four more

October 9, 2013. The residents of Ural Federal District owe a total of 25.3bn RUR in terms of housing bills as of October 1, 2013, Sequoia Credit Consolidation's report states. People living in Central Federal District top the debtors' list with their 34.5bn RUR worth of debts, followed by the Volga Federal District (27.8bn RUR). All in all, Russian citizens have 152.9bn RUR worth of unpaid housing bills, which is 27.2% more than a year earlier. Experts predict that by the figure will creep over 160bn RUR by the end of 2013.

October 9, 2013. The project on the development of Sverdlovsk Region's food and processing industry in 2013-2020 that was adopted at the region's Government's meeting today means the share of locally produced goods in the total sales volume should increase from 21% to 33%, Sverdlovsk Region Government Press Service & Information Department reports. Sverdlovsk Region Agriculture & Foods Minister Mikhail Kopytov says that the strategy means that by 2020, the constituency is to produce at least 197,000,000kg of meat a year (compared with the current 115,000,000 kg),

October 9, 2013. The Unites States Federal Reserve system put a new one hundred dollar bill into circulation on October 8. The new banknote has extra protection features such as the 3D blue protective stripe that is woven into the paper rather than just printed on it. When you turn the bill sideways, the bells drawn on the bill change into the number 100, Bank Koltso Urala's press service says. So, the bill is fitted with one more protective thread, additional water marks, and a microseal. Some of the images on the banknote change colors when looked at under a different angle: the bell

October 9, 2013. Mayor of Yekaterinburg Alexander Yakob approved of the preliminary forecast of physical education and sports development for 2014-2016. The city council's press service says such projects as Backyard Stadium, Winter Sports: Second Wind, the Sports Olympus, and the long-term target Physical Education & Sports Development Program are expected to result in 77 new sports facilities over the next three years. For one, a council-run ski rental and two lawn hockey playgrounds will be built in Yekaterinburg's Chkalovsky District. In 2014, fitness clubs with gyms will be

October 8, 2013. This summer, experts found out the price of air travel from Yekaterinburg rose by 9%: on average, a plane ticket costs 13,356 RUR in 2013, Aviasales.ru’s PR service reports. It could also be noted that 36.6% of all flights were operated in August, which means Yekaterinburg residents mostly prefer to have their summer vacation in the last month. According to the data provided by the experts, people usually book within two weeks, which means no savings can be made on early booking. Experts also note that the best time to book is 70 days before the flight. This means it makes

October 8, 2013. ChTPZ Group is going to present its own ceramic flux at a key welding industry event – the Weldex/Rossvarka Exhibition, the Group’s press service reports. Now ChTPZ Group has been making ceramic flux since 2004 and is one of Russia and Europe’s leading ceramics manufacturers (its capacity has been estimated at 14,000 tons a year); this material is used for making large-diameter welded pipes that meet the strictest requirements of the home and global markets. In 2013, four new makes of ceramic flux were launched; all of them were certified by the National Welding Control

October 8, 2013. Uralvagonzavod (UVZ) Scientific & Production Corporation was a partner for the Povetkin-Klichko match in Moscow on October 5, 2013, the corporation’s press service says. The World Boxing Association’s super heavyweight world champion Alexei Povetkin and the Association’s super champion and winner of the International Boxing Federation and the World Boxing Association’s champion belts Vladimir Klichko met in a 12-round match at Olimpiysky Stadium. The match gathered a huge audience: 14,000 people watched it live, and most Russian citizens were glued to their TV screens.

October 8, 2013. Sverdlovsk Region authorities are going to look into efficiency of budget spending, including the funding of the city councils’ development programs. This decision was made by Governor Evgeny Kuivashev following the Russian Federation State Council meeting conducted by President Vladimir Putin on October 4. The President said it the country was switching to a purpose-based financing method that should be implemented in all the city councils in Russia. The authorities hope that the new budget-setting principles will result in greater efficiency of budget spending, as in 2012,

October 8, 2013. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK), one of the world’s leading OCTG producers, shipped a number of pipes meant for the construction of underwater pipelines in Vladimir Filanovsky oil and natural gas deposit in the northern part of the Caspian Sea that is currently being developed by LUKOIL, TMK press service reports. In 2012, TMK signed a number of contracts for the delivery of OCTG with the companies that are involved in the building of oil and gas pipelines for the Northern Caspian Project: Malaysia’s Bumi Armada Caspian (interfiled underwater pipelines) and Italy’s SAIPEM

October 7, 2013. Uralvagonzavod took part in the 2nd All-Russian Civil Defense Drill called ‘Civil Defense Measures in Wartime Regime and Emergencies’ today. The drill was initiated by Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, the enterprise’s press service reports. At 6 AM, the teams of Nizhniy Tagil were called to assemble at a meeting point, and tasks were set out at 8 AM. It was explained in the introductory lecture that a number of terrorist attacks were possible. The teams were ordered to make sure the local population can be protected. A protective shelter was thus installed at

October 7, 2013. The retail trade turnover in Sverdlovsk Region came to 611.4bn RUR in January-August 2013, which – in comparable prices – is 5.1% more than in January-August 2012 (and 3.9% more than in Russia on the whole), the region’s Economic Ministry’s press service reports. The food and non-food items ratio in the retail trade turnover was 46.5% and 53.5%, respectively. The volume of food items sold in January-August 2013 was 4.2% greater than in January-August 2012; that of non-food items was 5.9% greater than a year earlier. The catering industry turnover stood at 30.6bn RUR in the

October 7, 2013. METCOMBANK’s branch in Academic District of Yekaterinburg celebrates its 3d anniversary this year, the bank’s press service reports. The branch was opened on September 30, 2010. METCOMBANK was actually the first bank to set up a branch in Yekaterinburg’s most promising district. ‘It makes one happy to see how the area is growing and developing, and how our branch is following suit,’ says METCOMBANK Chairman of the Supervisory Board Dmitri Torbenko. The bank’s branch in Academic District offers its customers a full range of services for both private individuals and legal

October 7, 2013. Following the International Foundry Forum that took place in Yekaterinburg in September, the international experts in the steel industry decided to suggest that the Mid-Urals’ capital should host the Europe Foundry Forum as well, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s Press Service & Information Department reports. ‘The proposal was talked over with President of the European Association of Machinery Manufacturers for Casting Gabriele Galante, and we received a preliminary consent,’ Vice Premier of Sverdlovsk Region Government Alexander Petrov told reporters. According to Petrov,

October 7, 2013. 11,279 people found a job or an income-earning activity through Yekaterinburg Employment Center in January-September 2013, the government agency’s press service reports. All in all, 18,243 people applied to Yekaterinburg Employment Center looking for a job; 59,886 people inquired for information on the labor market situation, and 3,665 people needed job counseling. The number of those who found a job in the total number of people who registered with the Center in January-September 2013 was 45.9%. There are 3,395 jobless people of working age registered with the center as

October 4, 2013. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) delivered a set of large-diameter pipes for the large-scale international project called Central Asia-China; this was done in full compliance with the contract. The contract also covered for TMK shipping over 100,000 tons of longitudinal welded tubes (diameter 1,219mm, wall width 17.5mm, a three-layer outer polyethylene coating and an internal coating) between January and September 2013. The produce was manufactured by Volzhsky Pipe Plant in accordance with the API Spec 5L standard. The pipes were delivered to Kazakhstan and will be used for

October 4, 2013. Students and faculty from Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ, a member of ChTPZ Group) Education Center keep working with the well-known public-art artist Nikolai Polissky. The two parties are designing a ‘building’ with the working title of Fiber Optics. This project is being implemented within the framework of a larger program dedicated to the opening of Palace of New Culture in Pervouralsk, ChTPZ Group’s press service says. The latest meeting’s agenda covered the artist going over the details of the future project with the working team and presenting all the layouts and

October 4, 2013. In terms of the amount of malware per one Internet user, Yekaterinburg came third among all the locations in Ural Federal District: there is an average of 23 viruses per user, Kaspersky Lab’s research findings for the first half of 2013 indicate. Magnitogorsk came first in this rating (68 malware items per user), followed by Nizhniy Tagil (38). These are the mobile devices that get attacked most often nowadays. In 2012, the lab detected over 30,000 malware items targeted at smartphones. Cyber-criminals mainly create programs suitable for Android smartphones; these are the

October 4, 2013. Uralvagonzavod coordinated one of its regular report presentations dedicated to issues relating to the production activity of Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant and to complying with the company Collective Agreement in the first half of 2013, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘The target production figures for both railway produce and special vehicles are met in full. Our mechanical assembly departments fulfill the government orders accurately and timely. The carriage assembly department is now switching to mass production of its innovative 12-196-01 gondola car.

October 4, 2013. The supply on Yekaterinburg existing homes market is now between 8,600 to 8,700 apartments, which is 28% more than at the beginning of the year, Ural Chamber of Real Estate’s Analytical Department says. ‘One could say that customers still have plenty of choices, even more so as the new homes have been competing fiercely with the existing ones over the last few years, as the record-setting 2.5m sq m worth of new housing get commissioned every year,’ their report states. Despite the growing supply, however, the asking price has been going up as well on the existing homes