April 26, 2013. In March 2013, the amount of unpaid taxes and levies, including fines and tax sanctions, decreased by 795m RUR, or 2.9% in Sverdlovsk Region and came to 27.91bn RUR on April 1, 2013, the press officer of Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Tax Service reports. It should be noted that this drop was both due to the main debt declining by 506m RUR (2.6%) and due to the debts in fines and tax sanctions declining by 288m RUR (3.4%). According to the fiscal authorities’ data, over 182,000 claims with demands to pay levies and taxes (totaling to 5.987bn RUR altogether)

April 25, 2013. Uralvagonzavod came up with a report on the results of all innovational activity in the company in the first quarter of 2013. In these three months, workers from Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s head plant submitted 69 improvement proposals, 52 of which have actually been incorporated into the production process. Workers from 30 different divisions of the company took part in this improvement effort, and the target figures for the amount of this innovational activity were met 100%, the corporation’s press service reports. The actual economic effect thus

April 25, 2013. A meeting of the Expert Council under the Russian Federation Ministry for Economic Development took place in Moscow today. The meeting was aimed at assessing the business plans proposed by the potential residents of the Titanium Valley Special Economic Zone – Urals’ Machines and Praxair Titanium Valley, the press service of the special economic zone project reports. Now there are currently three registered residents in the Titanium Valley: Ural Optical Plant, Sinersis, and StroyDiesel-Composite. This means that about 10 hectares out of the 72 hectares allocated for the first

April 25, 2013. An incredible increase in the number of privately owned cars has made any noticeable traffic improvements in Yekaterinburg impossible so far, Yekaterinburg Council’s press service reports. Given that the construction and reconstruction of roads and junctions alone are not enough to solve the transport problem, it was decided to implement a well-balanced transport policy targeted at the development of the street and highway network and at making public transport a priority type of transportation. It is expected that as a result, 20 highway sections, 20 road junctions, 2

April 25, 2013. The second stage of Russian football championship for children from orphanages and boarding schools took place in Perm recently. The winners’ cups and trips to Sochi where the final stage of the championship will be held were awarded to the teams from Kirov and Tobolsk, MegaFon’s press service reports. The all-Ural stage of the football championship for children who have no parents was attended by the young sportsplayers from ten different territories in the Greater Urals. The judges’ team was chaired by President of Perm Territory Mini-Football Federation and Director of

April 25, 2013. According to Ural Chamber of Real Estate’s Analytical Department, the average price of one square meter of housing on Yekaterinburg’s existing homes market amounted to 70,872 RUR on April 22, 2013. This figure has remained more or less the same since February; for three months, the average figure has stayed at the level of 70,800 RUR, with only slight variations by 0.1% to 0.2% up or down. One could say the housing prices have finally settled and are not expected to grow any time soon. The trend for the increase in the housing supply that became noticeable at the beginning of

April 24, 2013. The Director-General of Ural Electro-Mechanical Plant Alexander Beloussov was featured in Russia’s Top 100 Industrial Development Leaders third annual rating that focuses on th country’s industrial elite and the best production managers, UEMP press service reports. The rating was instituted by Production Management, a business-oriented web portal, and the selection principle is that the best select the best. Over 500 reputable managers from industrial enterprises, government bodies, and consultant companies chose the most successful managers in the industrial sector who

April 24, 2013. Ural Diesel Engine Plant (a member of Sinara Transport Machines) was visited by the Director-General of SakhaEnergo Nikolai Parnikov. The head of SakhaEnergo looked at the diesel generators assembling department and at the testing station as well as at the diesel energy facility that comprises two 1,000-kilowatt diesel power stations and the unit control system, Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. In February 2013, Sinara Transport Machines and SakhaEnergo signed a contract for the production of 1,000-kilowatt DG 1000C3 diesel generating unit. Ural Diesel Engine Plant developed

April 24, 2013. President of Sverdlovsk Region Union of Industrialists & Employers and BOD Chairman of Pipe Metallurgical Company and Sinara Group Dmitri Pumpyanski was elected the new Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Ural Federal University, the college press service reports. Among the other members of the Supervisory Board are Rector of Higher School of Economics Yaroslav Kuzminov and Chairman of the Strategic Initiatives Agency’s Expert Council for New Projects Promotion Valery Fadeyev, as well as Russia’s Deputy Minister for Education & Science Igor Fedyukin and Head of

April 24, 2013. Yekaterinburg’s Central Stadium will be reconstructed in preparation for the World Cup 2018 with the federal budget money. The decree to this effect was signed by Russian Vice Premier Igor Shuvalov, says Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policies Department. ‘It is declared expedient to offer 100% federal budget financing for the construction and reconstruction of stadiums in the following cities…’ Shuvalov’s decree states. This means Yekaterinburg is one of the eight cities that will receive federal funding to have its stadium renovated. The cost of the project has

April 24, 2013. A construction of the Job Training Center for 244 students is now taking place at Seversky Pipe Plant/STZ (a member of Pipe Metallurgical Company). This project falls within the framework of a trilateral agreement between Sverdlovsk Region Education Ministry, STZ, and V.I. Nazarov Polevskoy Vocational School, the press office of Pipe Metallurgical Company reports. The assembly of the metal structures is now 90% complete. The contractor, StroyMontazh, is now working on assembling the floor slabs; the case is expected to be completed by Metallurgist’s Day in mid-July. The

April 23, 2013. UBT is now completing its project on expanding the reservoir park of its oil-based products; the implementation of this project will mean the company will have a strategic fuel reserve on the premises of Uralvagonzavod’s head plant in Nizhniy Tagil. The project took off in 2012 and is expected to be completed in the summer of 2013, the press officer of Uralvagonzavod Corporation reports. All the innovations implemented in the project ensure absolute environmental and industrial safety and offer a number of considerable advantages. For one, an automatic system for measuring the

April 23, 2013. The FIFA will be granted the right to sell and advertize alcohol drinks inside the stadiums and next to them during the World Football Championship 2018 in Russia. The corresponding amendments to the draft bill on World Cup 2018 have been directed by the Sports Ministry to the Russian Government, Izvestiya reports. Under the terms of the said draft law, during the competitions as well as during the drawing for the purpose of matching the teams to play with one another (two days before the preliminary or the final drawing and up to the day immediately following the drawing) ‘it

April 23, 2013. Last Friday, April 19, the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development went through with the offering of its BO-05 bond issues worth a total of 2bn RUR. The bonds will be in circulation for seven years from the date of offering, with a year’s offer provided for, the bank’s press service reports. The UBRD accepted the bids for the bonds on April 10-17, 2013 in the book-building format. The BO-05 issue was coordinated by Promsvyazbank and Nomos Bank. 79 deals were landed with primary investors during the offering per se, which means this issue is of a market nature and good

April 23, 2013. Over 10,000 employees of Chelyabinsk Tube-Rolling Plant and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant will undergo medical checkups in 2013, ChTPZ Group’s press service reports. To make things more convenient for the workers and to save time, the checkups will take place in the corporate medical units, at ChTPZ Medical Center (Entire Medicine Clinic), and at its branch in Pervouralsk. ChTPZ Group is a socially responsible company that invests millions of rubles into healthcare protection and promoting healthy lifestyle for its workers. A voluntary medical insurance program has been available

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 22, 2013. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ-Uraltrac, a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) is expected to ship 35 vehicles to Surgutneftegaz in May, the corporation’s press service reports. The shipment comprises a number of pipe-laying trucks, swamp tractors that will be used for pulling, the powerful B-12 and B-10M bulldozers with a hydro-mechanical transmission system that ensures the ease of operating this multi-ton truck. Most of the vehicles have already been delivered to the consumers in full compliance with the terms of the contract. Nearly all

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 22, 2013. A unique Mechatronics training workshop is now operating on the premises of Uralvagonzavod Personnel Training Center. This workshop offers a skills upgrade to all kinds of mechanics, electricians, setup experts, heads and experts from the Mechanic Service Department and the Energy Department, computer programmers, engineers who deal in design, assembly, start-up, and O&M of modern multi-functional technological lines and electronically controlled units, Uralvagonzavod’s press service reports. This is actually the second training workshop that operates

April 22, 2013. In 2012, Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) proved the only Russian metallurgical enterprise that managed to keep its EBITDA at the same level as a year earlier. The figure came to $1.36bn. On the one hand, this was just 1.5% more than in 2011. On the other hand, all the other companies in this sector are doing much worse, InvestCafe analyst Pavel Yemelyantzev said when commenting on MMK’s financial report for 2012. He pointed out that NLMK and MMK were the only businesses that managed to increase their revenues last year. The former’s increase amounted to 3.6% and the

April 8, 2013. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) considerably expanded the volume of shipments its makes to the Russian ship- and bridge-building enterprises. Last year, the output of Mill 5000 produce MMK shipped to the bridge-building and ship-building customers rose by over two and three times, respectively, on the previous year. All in all, MMK’s metal goods shipments on the domestic bridge-building market amounted to 67,000 tons in 2012, while the shipments of goods to the ship-builders reached 75,000 tons, the enterprise reports. For one, 7,000 tons of rolled sheets with regular

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 22, 2013. The money needed to do the building and assembly jobs in the course of reconstructing Yekaterinburg’s Central Stadium will be allocated from the federal budget, Sverdlovsk Region Minister for Physical Education, Sports, and Youth Policies Leonid Rapoport announced at a recent press briefing. ‘A meeting on the development of sports in Russia was held in Moscow on Thursday; the agenda covered issued relating to the World Cup preparations, among other things. It was announced that an ad hoc committee would be set up under the Russian Sports Ministry to