March 25, 2013. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development announced some changes in its shareholder structure. Vsevolod V. Levin decided to sell his 19.9989 shareholding, which was purchased by Alexander V. Semkin in full. Sergey V. Skubakov, Igor A, Altushkin, Irina N. Gaivoronskaya, and Vladimir V. Pechenenko also have a 15.32%, a 29.99%, a 13.28%, and a 19.99% stake in the business as well, the bank’s press service reports. ‘Every shareholder has the right to sell or to buy the shares he or she holds. The changes in the ownership structure do not affect the implementation of the

March 12, 2013. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) has spent over 7bn RUR on reconstructing the existing and building new green facilities over the last five years. Also, over 1.5bn RUR is spent on maintaining these facilities every year, the company’s Environmental Protection Lab Director Oleg Drobny said in the course of a recent round table discussion in Chelyabinsk. The company’s conservational activity is mainly targeted at air protection. MMK currently operates 445 gas-purifying units and has spent more than 1bn RUR on reconstructing the existing and building new air-protecting

March 22, 2013. A personnel training center has been set up at Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Enterprise’s head plant. The center was born out of the plant’s HR Department and will now be in charge of training both Uralvagonzavod’s workers and those employed at the corporation’s other enterprises, the corporation’s press service reports. A multi-purpose anticipatory training program is now one of the center’s first large-scale projects. The company allocated more than 10m RUR for this purpose this year. The plant’s employees will be able to get a second qualification and switch to

March 22, 2013. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant/PNTZ (a member of ChTPZ Group) finished off the 6th ball hockey championship among the 35 teams from children’s neighborhood clubs. The event was coordinated within the framework of a project on supporting children’s amateur sports that the plant launched in 2007, the enterprise’s press service reports. The winners of the Wicker Ball Championship in the group of 16-15 year-olds are the Orlenok team (manager Alexander Zolotov). As for the 14-year-olds, 12-11-year-olds, and 10-9-year olds, the gold medals went to Yuny Stroitel (manager Vladimir

March 22, 2013. Moscow-based Formica has once again won in the tender for the right to organize and hold Ural International Exhibtion/Forum Innoprom 2013. According to the official government purchases website, the price of the contract has been reduced by 50m RUR against the opening bid and now comes to 100m RUR. Such companies as Business Event and SP Ogilvi also took part in the tender, while Ural Exhibitions was not allowed to compete for the contract because its terms relating to the time of holding the exhibition did not meet the customer’s requirements. Formica has actually been

March 22, 2013. In the first two months of 2013, Sverdlovsk Region’s primary economic indicators have kept on growing on a year earlier, Governor Evgeny Kuivashev said on March 21 during a seminar/meeting with the local mayors, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s press service reports. The Governor said that the first two months of the year were long enough to trace the trend. ‘The industrial production index went up by nearly 5% in January and February 2013 against January and February 2012. The agricultural production index rose by a little more than 4% against the comparable prices of January

March 22, 2013. In March 2013, Forbes analysts came up with a rating of most reliable Russian banks. The banks were ranked on the basis of the lowest of the credit ratings they have. The analysts used Forbes’s own data and those provided by Interfax-CEA (as of January 1, 2012), Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Investors Service, and Standard & Poor’s (as of February 25, 2013). SKB-Bank made it to the list of Russia’s Top 100 most dependable banks and became one of the leaders in the Urals. According to the magazine, the bank’s assets exceeded 128.3bn RUR; the company also holds international

March 21, 2013. Nizhniy Novgorod-based Burevestnik Central Scientific Research Institute (a member of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation) has been awarded with a special honorary challenge banner by Governor of Nizhniy Novgorod Region Valeriy Shantsev, the corporation’s press service says. Burevestnik was given the banner ‘for achieving the best performance results among industrial companies in 2012’. In fact, the first such banner was presented to the company by the Governor as early as 2011. The awarding ceremony took place at a meeting of regional enterprises’ top

March 21, 2013. A check carried out by Sverdlovsk Region division of State Labor Inspectorate revealed a number of violations at Pervouralsk-based Russian Chrome 1915, the inspectorate’s press officer reports. For one, it was detected that the company’s department committee chairmen and members did not undergo the required training on labor protection regulations. Besides, not all of the company’s employees were provided with all the necessary individual protective gear, while the workers’ labor contracts did not list the working conditions in full. Finally, sometimes the employees were

March 21, 2013. Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Public Property Management keeps getting Yekaterinburg landmarks QR-coded. 40 more sights will become available for a virtual tour on March 21, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s Press Service & Information Department reports. Tomorrow, plates will be installed at two buildings at once. The first one is located at 5 Vosmoye Marta St. This is the building of Ural Scientific Research Chemical Institute designed by K.T. Babykin (1880-1960). The façade was decorated in accordance with the design by S.V. Dombrovsky (1883-1953). This is a great sample

March 21, 2013. 337 jobs for people with disabilities are to be created in Sverdlovsk Region in 2013. The region’s Social Policies Ministry is going to direct 20m RUR to this purpose. All in all, over 500 such jobs have been created in the constituency since 2010, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s Press Service & Information Department reports. In 2012, the member enterprises of the All-Russian Blind People Society received 20m RUR worth of subsidies for the modernization of their production facilities. This year, another 20m RUR will be allocated for the technical upgrades and for jobs

March 21, 2013. A teleconference with American and Urals-based innovative companies will take place in Yekaterinburg for the first time on April 9. The event is coordinated by Sverdlovsk Region SMEs Support Fund with some help from the Ural branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a press release forwarded to UrBC states. The idea behind such teleconferences is to transfer the American companies’ experience and to help the Ural businesses develop and enter the international markets. The U.S. startups are going to share their successful experience with the locals. The Ural businesspeople, in

March 20, 2013. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant/ChTZ (a member of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation) shipped four B-10M bulldozer to Yakutsk, the Corporation’s press officer reports. The vehicles were ordered by Yakutiya’s Agricultural Ministry’s Land Reclamation & Agricultural Water Supply & Food Policies Department. In addition, German mulching devices were bought to clear the area from residue and roots of small trees and bushes and to handle the rotary cultivating of the soil surface. It was for these mulching devices that the customer selected the suitable tractors

March 20, 2013. The number of technological parks in Sverdlovsk Region now comes to twelve. Three new parks have recently been registered in the region, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s Press Service & Information Department reports. The technological park status was given to Academic Innovation & Technology Center comprising fourteen residents, to the six-resident Instrument-Making Park’s management company, and Energy Technological Park comprising four residents. The three new parks employ about 1,000 people altogether. ‘The new technological parks’ residents produce aluminum and

March 20, 2013. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court processed Severouralsk Construction Administration’s bankruptcy case in the course of an open hearing. An insolvency application was placed with the court by the creditor in bankruptcy proceedings Instrument-Making Plant on March 29, 2012. On November 2, 2021, the court ruled that Severouralsk Construction Administration should undergo bankruptcy proceedings. Dmitri Lazarev of Moscow Self-Regulatory Organizations of Professional Trustees in Bankruptcy Non-Profit Partnership was appointed the company’s trustee in bankruptcy. According to the

March 20, 2013. Ural Airlines is now offering special Lenten meals to passengers who observe the Lent. To get this meal plan, you just have to book in advance, the company’s press officer reports. The special menu needs to be booked at least 24 hours before the flight at the time of paying for the ticket at the booking office or when booking through the Passenger Support Service (+7 343 345 36 45 or (toll-free around Russia) + 7 8 800 2000 262). What is more, meals can be booked in advance when buying tickets online. No additional fees are charged for this special meal plan, the air carrier’s

March 20, 2013. Some changes to the region’s budget for 2013 and 2014-2015 were adopted in the third reading by Sverdlovsk Region Legislative Assembly’s deputies today. The total inflow figures were increased by 6.4bn RUR and came to 158bn RUR, while the spending figures were increased to 177.8bn RUR, the region’s Finance Minister Galina Kulachenko said in her report. Ms Kulachenko said that the amendments had to do with a rise in the tax and non-tax payments to the budget. For one, donations from the federal budget went up by 3.3bn RUR and amounted to 11.7bn RUR. Most of this money (2.4bn

March 19, 2013. The Secretary of Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev paid a visit to Omsk-based Transport Machine-Building Design Office/KBTM (a member of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation/UVZ), UVZ press service reports. The Secretary was accompanied by Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Siberian Federal District Viktor Tolokonsky, Governor of Omsk Region Viktor Nazarov, and Omsk Region Minister for Industrial Policies, Communications, & Innovational Technologies Alexei Gladenko. The top executives of Uralvagonzavod Scientific

March 19, 2013. The assembling of the 36ft SAG mill and of the 26ft grinding mill took off at Mikheyevsky Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise’s construction site. At the same time, the foundations are being prepared for the second set of mills (36ft and 26ft) as well as the foundations for the 22ft grinding mills, the press officer of Russian Copper Company (RMK) reports. ‘All the primary building jobs are being completed in accordance with the schedule,’ says head of the company’s production department Haibulla Davlebayev. In addition, the top assembly of nine out of twelve Outotec

March 19, 2013. Starting March 27, the Italian air carrier Alitalia will be operating direct flights from Yekaterinburg to Rome’s Fiumicino Airport and back. The flights will be operated on Airbus A320 planes and will be available three times a week; the tickets are already being offered for sale. Alitalia reports the cheapest round trip tickets can be obtained for as little as 15,756 RUR. The spokesperson for Yekaterinburg Council says Italy’s largest air carrier entered the Urals aviation market in February. Yekaterinburg is Russia’s third city from which Alitalia offers direct flights to