November 27, 2012. The Urals branch of MegaFon announces its mobile network is ready for the mountain skiing season, when both the number of phone calls and online activity are expected to increase dramatically in popular winter skiing locations, the company’s press service reports. As for Sverdlovsk Region, the skiers and snowboarders who use MegaFon can rely on the carrier’s services in such popular mountains as Yezhovaya, Pilnaya, Listvennaya, Belaya, Uktus, Volchikha, and others. ‘Prior to this year’s launch of the mountain ski resorts telecommunications services, the company’s engineers

November 27, 2012. SverdlovEnergoSbyt is planning to implement about 9,000 court rulings regarding the enforced recovery of debts, the company’s press service reports. About 9,000 court rulings involving those who don’t pay their electricity bills are now being implemented; these amount to some 50m RUR. 7,000 warrants of execution amounting to about 24m RUR have already been directed to the Service of Officers of the Court. Finally, 2,000 warrants of execution worth 26m RUR were directed by SverdlovEnergoSbyt to the local banks. If debtors happen to have settlement accounts in these banks,

November 26, 2012. Sputnik, the hockey team sponsored by Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation, completed the first round of the Supreme Hockey League (VHL) in a series of three home games, the corporation’s press service reports. The championship is now half-way through, and the Nizhniy Tagil team is now one of VHL leaders that tops the list of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Byelorussia’s 27 hockey teams. Early in the 2012/2013 season, Sputnik has already won four non-home matches (two of the winning matches were with the current VHL champion and vice-champion teams). The Nizhniy

November 26, 2012. Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s head office has already met the annual target figures for railway vehicles output: 24,830 units have been manufactured since the beginning of the year, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. This means that the company has already met the annual plan adopted at the BOD meeting. 19,347 gondola cars of various types and 5,315 cisterns have been produced by now. The number of lumber vehicles rose to 168. All in all, these figures are 7.2% better than a year earlier. The company expects to produce 3,000 more

November 26, 2012. People living in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, and Novosibirsk use online hotel booking options for their New Year recess more often than residents of other Russian cities, Interfax refers to Oktogo.ru (the Russian online hotel booking service) as saying. According to their research findings, about 75% of all the bookings through Oktogo.ru is done by the residents of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. People living in Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, and Novosibirsk are responsible for 15% of all the reservations; Perm, Krasnoyarsk, Kazan, Voronezh, and Samara are

November 26, 2012. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court postponed the hearing of Russian Magnesium bankruptcy case because not enough materials are currently available for the case, the court’s website states. Now in September, Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court’s website carried an announcement that Asbest-based Russian Magnesium submitted a bankruptcy application with them. The company’s primary shareholder, the Swiss Minmet Financing Company S.A., stopped financing the project altogether in November 2011. This was exactly why the company now owes about 60m RUR in terms of wages, taxes, and

November 26, 2012. MRSK Holding will be renamed into Russian Grids, with a state-owned 79.55% shareholding in FSK UES added to its authorized capital. A decree to this extent was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin’s press service reports. The decree states that is was signed ‘in order to further develop the Russian Federation’s electrical network, to coordinate the management of this sector, and to keep the end user electricity rates at bay.’ The state currently owns 54.52% of the Interregional Distribution Grid Companies Holding’s shares, Prime reports.

November 23, 2012. Uralvagonzavod presented a report on the results of the sports contests held within the company. This large-scale sports event is coordinated annually as a measure to make the workers healthier, and different tours take place throughout the year. Not only the workers from the corporation’s head plant but also the employees of Uralcryomash, Ural Transport Machine-Building Design Bureau, UBT-Uralvagonzavod, the fire and security departments, and some customers’ representatives’ join the contests, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. In 2012, about 17,000 people

November 23, 2012. In 2012, over 1m sq m of housing will be commissioned in Yekaterinburg. This means that the Urals’ capital has been keeping up with this one-million figure for many years now, the press service refers to the city council’s Architecture & Construction Surveillance Inspection as stating. To date, 527,000 sq m worth of housing have been commissioned in Yekaterinburg since the beginning of the year, including 4421,000 sq m worth of apartment buildings, nearly 3,000 sq m worth of low-rise apartment buildings, and over 100,000 sq m worth of detached houses. In terms of

November 23, 2012. Burger King’s second Yekaterinburg-based restaurant will be opened in Mega Shopping Center’s food court soon. The food court spot designated for the fast food chain now displays an advertising banner that announces the upcoming launch. Burger King currently runs one restaurant in Yekaterinburg; this one is located at the intersection of Malyshev St and Vainer St. Burger King entered the Russian market two years ago and now operates over 50 places in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Yekaterinburg. The company is planning to set up hundreds of restaurants in different parts of

November 23, 2012. Ural Airlines has already met and exceeded the target figures for offering its air carrier services to passengers who get discounts within the framework of the government-run program on making air travel affordable for people flying from the Far East to the European part of Russia and back, the airline’s press service reports. According to Rosaviation, Ural Airlines flew about 12,000 such passengers in April-November 2012 and used 75m RUR from the federal budget in order to do this; this figure is two times bigger than a year earlier. The airline is now the country’s No.1

November 23, 2012. Russian Vice Premier Arkady Dvorkovitch and Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev paid a visit to Yekaterinburg’s stand dedicated to the application for hosting the World Universal Exhibition EXPO in 2020 today; the stand is currently located in Paris, EXPO 2020 Application Committee Autonomous Non-Profit Organization’s press service reports. Head of EXPO 2020 application committee, Senator Arkady Chernetsky, Mayor of Yekaterinburg Alexander Yakov, Head of EXPO 2020 Application Committee Autonomous Non-Profit Organization Eric Bugulov, and representatives of the

November 22, 2012. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant will ship a large batch of road construction vehicles to Byelorussia before the end of November, UVZ Corporation’s press service reports. Under the terms of the tender the company won, the plant is to ship 53 marsh-fit bulldozers to Byelorussia, including five tractor sets that will be assembled in Minsk. Chelyabinsk-produced vehicles will be used for melioration in all parts of the country. Russia’s CIS neighbors managed to retain this industry, but their fleet of tractor vehicles dates back to the Soviet times and needs to be replaced.

November 22, 2012. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s BO-1 stock bonds were placed on the Central Bank’s Lombard list, which means that the bondholders can benefit not only from the profit guaranteed by the issuer but also from the Bank of Russia’s refinancing options, the bank’s press officer reports. ‘The fact that our bonds were placed on the Lombard list signifies the UBRD’s great dependability as an issuer. This will definitely make our securities more appealing to the potential investors,’ says Head of Financial Institutions and Investment Services Department Vladimir

November 22, 2012. Yekaterinburg’s application for the right to host the World Universal Exhibition in 2020 will be presented in the BIE Paris office on November 22. A group of delegates, headed by Russia’s Vice Premier Arkady Dvorkovitch, will join the 152nd General Assembly on November 21-22 in Paris, the application committee’s press service reports. EXPO 2020 Coordination Committee Chairman Arkady Dvorkovitch will give a report on the advantages Russia has as the potential host country and on the strong points of Yekaterinburg as a candidate for the host city. The voting to select the

November 22, 2012. The workers of Sinara Pipe Plant (SinTZ), which is a member of Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK), were given state awards for their professional achievements, TMK press service reports. According to the Russian Federation President’s decree, head of pipe-rolling shop 2 (T-2) Nikolai Ponomarev was given the honorary title of Deserved Metallurgist of the Russian Federation for his contribution to the metallurgical industry and many years of conscientious performance. Head of the nondestructive screening and diagnostics lab (LNKiD) Sergey Aksenov was given the 2nd degree medal

November 22, 2012. Governor Evgeny Kuivashev’s initiative on putting the Yekaterinburg EXPO promotion campaign logo on aircraft now came true: Ural Airlines launched its first airplane with the exhibition symbols and a phrase ‘Ekaterinburg World Expo 2020. Candidate City’ on it, the air carrier reports. This long-term ‘coloring’ of the planes and the fact that Yekaterinburg is mentioned in the phrase is expected to enhance the city awareness on the international arena and to serve as additional publicity for the city. The Governor is positive that it is essential for the capital of Sverdlovsk

November 21, 2012. Several member enterprises of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation took part in the creation of containers meant for transporting propane, butane, and their mixtures. The cistern was developed at Ural Carriage Making Design Bureau (the head plant’s subdivision), while the manufacturing and certification procedures were handled by Uralcryomash. The cistern gets mounted on a railway platform with 18-100 four-wheel bogies produced by Uralvagonzavod. The cistern was actually ordered by UVZ Logistics, the corporation’s daughter enterprise that deals in

November 21, 2012. AKK (Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant’s (ChTZ) official dealer in Estonia) is buying a batch of export spare parts for tractors, Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s press service reports. These spare parts are nodes and parts for the T-170 and the T-10 tractors. The batch is now being compiled and prepared for shipment; the truck will set off in November. AKK head and the company’s long-time partner Koit Kuus will deliver these spare parts to consumer in the three Baltic States that operate ChTZ vehicles. The other set of the same spare parts will be shipped

November 21, 2012. The local legal entities’ debts to the tax authorities come to 30bn RUR at the moment, which is 7% less than in January 2012. Bankrupt companies owe about a third of this sum, Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Tax Service Marina Ryabova said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. Thanks to the tax inspections, an additional 7bn RUR was transferred to the budget. As for private individuals, only 70% of Sverdlovsk Region residents paid their taxes for 2011 in time. Those private individuals who were to have paid their taxes before November 1 now