October 3, 2013. The people who attended the recent public hearings in Yekaterinburg approved of the project on the construction of a high speed railway link VSM 2 that will connect Moscow, Kazan, and Yekaterinburg in Sverdlovsk Region’s territory, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s Press Service & Information Policy Department reports. According to the projects put forth by the designers, VSM 2 might wind around three towns: Achit, Krasnoufimsk, and Novouralsk, two larger towns – Pervouralsk and Bysert, and a village called Klenovskoye. The railways will not pass through any settlements

October 3, 2013. Volchansky Mechanical Plant (a subsidiary of Uralvagonzavod) is now launching a new production line in the railway vehicles sector. According to the press service of Uralvagonzavod, the mechanical plant will soon start dealing in production and delivery of railway vehicles meant for technological operation inside the plant and at industrial enterprises in the nuclear, ore mining, metallurgical, and machine-building sectors. The design documentation will be elaborated by Ural Railway Carriage Design Office (a member of Uralvagonzavod Corporation). The project design will take

October 3, 2013. 9,796 people applied to Nizhniy Tagil & Gornouralsky Employment Service in January-September 2013, and 8,307 of the applicants found a job or a money-earning activity, Sverdlovsk Region Labor & Employment Department’s press service reports. At the same time, the number of officially jobless people among working-age residents of Nizhniy Tagil and Gornouralsky was 1,205 people as of October 1, 2013. It’s also worth mentioning that, as of December 1, 2012, 3,231 job openings were available in Nizhniy Tagil Employment Center, including 2,318 blue-collar jobs and 2,832

October 3, 2013. Rospotrebnadzor reports an increase in the specific weight of defective pastry in the first half of 2013: this rose by 1.5 times compared with a year earlier. 1,600 kg of bread and pastry out of 9,500 kg were declared defective upon inspection, Sverdlovsk Region division of this federal consumer rights watchdog reports. Lab tests have shown that nearly 100% of defective bread and pastry are manufactured by small businesses. Among the small businesses whose produce was declared defective are Pallada+, MEGAMART, Vira-95, and a number of others. Besides, it turned out that

October 3, 2013. The Urals turned out the part of Russia where 4 grade wheat prices rose the most during one week. According to the data provided by Prozerno, local crop prices increased by 235RUR and came to 5,985 RUR per 1,000kg. In the south of Russia, the price went up by 65 RUR and came to 6,935 RUR per 1,000kg, in Central Russia, the price rose by 10 RUR and came to 6,125 RUR per 1,000 kg, in the Volga Region, the price rose by 115 RUR and amounted to 6,285 RUR. The cheapest wheat is found in Siberia, where it costs 4,965 RUR per 1,000 kg. As for the deep water ports, the price kept

October 2, 2013. A concert for the long-service employees of Pervorualsk New Pipe Plant (a member of ChTPZ Group) was given at the plant’s Palace of Culture in celebration of Senior Citizen’s Day, the plant’s press service reports. According to the press service, the enterprise usually makes every effort to show their care for the elderly. The plant’s social benefits package applies to over 12,000 long-service employees, which is comparable with the actual number of current workers. The company’s Collective Agreement provides for various kinds of support such as co-financing of medical

October 2, 2013. On October 1, 2013, MegaFon launched its 4G network in Yekaterinburg. The residents of the Urals’ capital can now enjoy their mobile Internet connection at the speed of up to 50 megabits per second. There are currently only two cities in the Urals that can benefit from the new service: Yekaterinburg and Perm. This year, the company is also planning to introduce the 4G connection in Novy Urengoy and Noyabrsk. At the moment, residents of only 8 Russian cities with population over 1m people have access to the 4G. Thanks to this 4G speed, MegaFon customers will be able to work

October 2, 2013. Kamensk Uralsk Customs officers confiscated a large batch of fake sports shoes imitating Nike, Adidas, Reebok, and Puma Solomon brands, Ural Customs Administration’s press service reports. The police and the customs officers pulled over two freight trucks from Central Asia that contained sneakers with logos of famous brands. As the goods were not accompanied by proper documentation, and because of the way they looked, the cargo was confiscated. An examination by independent experts from Russia’s Federal Customs Service Forensic Agency revealed that 9,627 pairs of shows were

October 2, 2013. Major-General Sergey Miroshnichenko assumed office of the Ministry of Emergencies Ural Regional Center’s Head today. The news was confirmed by the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Ministry of Emergencies. Yuri Naryshkin, who retired in April 2013, was Miroshnichenko’s predecessor. Between April and October, First Deputy Head Sergey Petrovsky was acting Head of the division. Prior to assuming new office, Sergey Miroshnichenko was First Deputy Head of the Ministry of Emergencies’ National Crisis Management Center.

October 2, 2013. 4 B-10M bulldozers from ChTZ (a member of Uralvagonxavod Corporation) that were named after the four leading players of the Tractor team were delivered to the Far East so that they can be used for restoring the infrastructure destroyed by the flood in the area, Uralvagonzavod’s press service reports. All in all, 12 vehicles bearing the hockey club logos and the players’ names and autographs will be shipped to Khabarovsk. This was a special promotion event that the plant workers decided to coordinate in order to support their favorite team that was set up at the plant in 1947

October 1, 2013. A new combat platform will be presented at Russia Arms Expo 2015, Director-General of Uralvagonzavod Oleg Sienko announced during the third day of RAE 2013, the corporation’s press office says. On September 27, on the third day of the event, the business agenda for the day covered a discussion on the prospects of the defense industry development. Uralvagonzavod’s stand and the open-air pavilion with the company’s integrated structure innovative products were visited by a number of foreign delegations. Negotiations were held with the company’s potential partners. In addition

October 1, 2013. President of Sinara Group Dmitri Pumpyanski and Governor of Volgograd Region Sergey Bozhenov signed a cooperation agreement on the multi-faceted development of some territories in the region; the land allotments will be used for housing construction. The agreement was signed at the 12th International Investment Forum in Sochi. Sinara Development, a member of Sinara Group, is going to act as the developer for the project, the company’s press service reports. The document, which was signed by both parties involved in this public-private partnership, confirms Sinara Group’s

October 1, 2013. The Director-General of Uralvagonzavod Oleg Sienko received a thank-you wire from Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev that expressed the latter’s gratitude for the great organization of the 9th International Arms, Military Vehicles & Ammunition Exhibition Russia Arms Expo 2013 (RAE). ‘The exhibition has shown to the whole world once again that Sverdlovsk Region’s defense industry has gigantic potential and that the latest developments by the Urals-based enterprises have all the might, energy, and competitiveness imaginable,’ Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s

October 1, 2013. The 9th International Arms, Military Vehicles and Ammunition Exhibition Russia Arms Expo 2013 closed in Nizhniy Tagil. For four days, participants of and visitors to the exhibition could look at the latest achievements of the Russian defense sector and at the world’s most advanced military vehicles, says the spokesperson for Uralvagonzavod (the exhibition’s general coordinator). ‘The exhibition finished off with a solemn ceremony of awarding symbolic medals to the crews of those military vehicles that were used to demonstrate the artfulness and advantages of the exhibits

October 1, 2013. The results of Ural Federal District multi-player World of Tanks championship called Ural Steel 2013 were announced recently. The championship was held in Nizhniy Tagil for the first time this year and coincided with the 9th International Arms, Military Vehicles & Ammunition Exhibition Russia Arms Expo 2013, says the press officer of Uralvagonzavod, the general coordinator of the event. This is the third time Uralvagonzavod has supported a championship dedicated to one of the most popular computer games that unites virtual tankers from all over the world. Now

September 30, 2013. Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev heads the region’s delegation at the 12th International Investment Forum Sochi 2013 on September 27-28, the Governor’s Information Policy Department reports. This year, the forum’s participants are discussing the development of public-private partnerships, ways of attracting private funds to finance large-scale socially important projects, the development of transport infrastructure, and enhancing the efficiency of existing mechanisms of working with investors. The Governor is expected to join the plenary session called

September 30, 2013. The Forbes magazine carried a rating of Russia’s top 200 private companies in 2012; some Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises were featured on this list. The companies on the list made 22.9 trillion RUR worth of revenues altogether; the list comprises 56 listed and 144 privately held companies. Pipe Metallurgical Company was the 25th in this rating. In 2012, the company’s revenue amounted to 208bn RUR. Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant was given the 43d position in the rating. The plant’s revenue reached 116.8bn RUR in 2012. Sinara Group came 97th in the rating, its last

September 30, 2013. Thanks to the new SMS-banking services, METCOMBANK’s customers can now manage their bank card account remotely, with the help of their mobile phone, the bank’s press service reports. SMS-banking is an extended variety of SMS alerts that allows the user to use text messages to perform the necessary transactions 24/7 and to enhance the security of one’s card considerably. ‘If you haven’t been using your card for a while, it takes just a text message to have it blocked temporarily, and just another text message to activate it again. One of the beauties of performing

September 30, 2013. Russia’s Economic Development Ministry is going to consider co-financing the construction of infrastructure facilities in the Titanium Valley special economic zone in 2014-2016. Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev asked Minister Alexei Ulyukayev to look into this option after a bilateral meeting with Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev; the meeting took place the other day in the course of the arms exhibition in Nizhniy Tagil, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. During his meeting with the Head of Government, the Governor

September 30, 2013. Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev attended Sverdlovsk Region stand at the International Investment Forum in Sochi. Governor Evgeny Kuivashev welcomed the Prime Minister at the stand premises where Sverdlovsk Region’s key investment projects are featured. These projects are actually public-private partnerships, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. The main idea behind running Sverdlovsk Region’s stand at the Sochi 2013 Forum is to show the area’s development programs and our key advantages that ensure comfortable conditions for living