Russia’s Transport Ministry suggests raising the railway transportation rates by 7% in 2013. According to Minister Maxim Sokolov, the increase in the rates will let Russian Railways break even. ‘Given the lack of additional funding from the federal budget, the decision to raise the rates in 2013 (we propose 7%) and further indexation in accordance with the inflation rate will make it possible for Russian Railways to break even. In terms of investments, other sources of funding are needed. One should also bear in mind that this 7% rise does not account for the extra expenses stemming from the

Experts from Oblkommunenergo State Unitary Enterprise coordinated an emergency drill for Sverdlovsk Region division of the DoE at Kirovgrad chlorinator station for deferrization. The drills were related to a hypothetical technological emergency caused by a container leakage and some liquid chlorine getting outside,’ the company’s PR Department reports. Under this scenario, a fault in the isolation valves of the chlorine-containing vessel led to a leakage; 0.8 tons of liquid and gaseous chlorine were emitted. The experts’ actions were estimated very highly by Mayor of Kirovgrad Alexander Oskin

The main enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Scientific Production Corporation was declared the Best Backbone Enterprise. The plant won in the municipal contest held on the 290th anniversary of the town of Nizhniy Tagil, the corporation’s press service reports. The contestants were evaluated along five criteria: their involvement in the program called Beautiful Streets & Clean Backyards for Our Home Town, their socioeconomic development, the situation around the social/labor relations, their efforts in the field of working with the local youth, and the sanitary condition of the premises.

The public prosecution authorities of Kamensk-Uralsky detected that providers OOO KamenskTelecom, OOO Convex-Kamensk, and the macro-regional Ural branch of OAO Rostelecom provided access to extremist content websites, Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution authorities report. The inspection by the authorities revealed that unrestrained Internet access was offered for certain materials classed as having extremist content and placed on the federal extremist content materials list. In order to put an end to the circumstances that make the dissemination of extremist content materials possible, at

The inflation rate was registered at 1.6% in Sverdlovsk Region in July and at 4.7% since the beginning of the year, Sverdlovsk Region division of the Federal State Statistics Service reports. Food prices (excluding alcohol) rose by 1.3% last month and by 5.9% since the beginning of the year; the price of strong drinks increased by 1.9% and 7.4%, respectively. Non-food items became 0.4% more expensive in July and 2.4% more expensive since the beginning of the year. The price of services went up by 3.5%.

63% of local housing and 42% of local boilers is ready for winter, Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Denis Pasler said at a meeting with the region’s Vice Governor Sergey Nosov and Head of the Governor Administration Yakov Silin. ‘We have made sure that Sverdlovsk Region Government and respective ministries are working together smoothly in getting ready for the fall/winter season. Not everything is perfect, we are still struggling with some problems. However, I am sure the tasks set by the Governor will be fulfilled,’ Sergey Nosov said. The authorities directed nearly 20% more funds to

Sverdlovsk Region-based agro-enterprises have gathered 75% of expected fodder crop yield. This comes to over 1,700 kg per one nominal head of cattle. The speed of harvest-collecting is comparable with that for the previous year. 265,000 hectares worth of grass has been reaped, which is 55,000 hectares more than in 2011. ‘One should admit that the draught has affected the quantity and quality of the fodder crop. On average, 20% more fodder crop was gathered off a hectare of land last year. Yet we do hope the farms will manage to meet the target figures. Many of them still have last year’s

Sverdlovsk Region Industry & Science Minister Vladislav Pinayev said in the course of his meeting with the employees of OOO Nigmas’s Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha branch that they were still on the lookout for potential investors for the company to resume operating. On July 19, 2012, Moscow Arbitration Court declared OOO Nigmas bankrupt, so the company had to undergo six-month bankruptcy proceedings. It should also be noted that a number of Sverdlovsk Region-based metallurgical enterprises are willing to offer jobs to the former employees of OOO Nigmas’s Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha branch. For one,

The Federal Financial Markets Service (FSFR) annulled the license of Semeiny Non-State Retirement Fund, the Service’s official website reports. Semeiny Non-State Retirement Fund served a number of Yekaterinburg-based municipal enterprises and had about 25,000 customers. According to the FSFR’s official statement, the fund’s license was annulled because the company violated the federal legislation a number of times during one year. For example, Semeiny failed to provide accounting reports (starting from the second quarter of 2011) to the regulating body and never sent the FSFR the auditor’s

Air Arabia had to cancel two flights in Koltsovo Airport. Flight G9-271 from Shardzha was supposed to have arrived in Yekaterinburg at 4:15 PM on August 3 (local time). The return flight G9-271 was to have taken off at 5:15 PM. It was the airline’s decision to call the flights off. The airport explains not a single ticket was sold for either of these flights.

Vulkan 800/1500, a stand-alone power generation unit with a gas turbine engine, designed by Omsk-based machine-building design office (one of Uralvagonzavod Scientific Production Corporation’s divisions) was awarded a certificate. Under this certificate, issued by Firma SibTechStandard, the unit meets all the requirements stated in the Electrical Installations Code and can be produced on an industrial scale. This mini-power station Vulkan was developed by the KBTM designers on the basis of a number of nodes and technologies used in the armored vehicles production. This portable mini-power

President of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin announced former Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin might join the company, Prime reports. ‘We have discussed this option, and we would be interested in him (Misharin –editor’s note) joining the company. However, since he used to be a government official, this would require some expert advice on how to comply with all the procedures that are involved when a civil servant comes into a business,’ Yakunin said. Yakunin did not specify what position exactly Misharin might be offered at Russian Railways. He did say, however, that the

The Russian movie and TV series maker Central Partnership is now suing three movie theaters which did not pay for using the motion pictures produced by the company. The distributor company insists on being paid the interest it is owed for the running of the movies. The three non-payers’ debt amounts to a total of 1.5m RUR, Marker reports. The defendants in the case are the heads of Barnaul-based AltayConcert, Yekaterinburg-based ALT (Kolizey Club), and Tver-based DK-Tver. The distributor demands to be paid the interest it is entitled to under the movie-broadcasting agreement. The debt totals

Yekaterinburg warehouse market is currently suffering from space shortage, the authorized representative of the Managers & Developers Guild in Yekaterinburg & Sverdlovsk Region Andrei Bril told UrBC. According to the expert, warehouses were the segment that had suffered the most during the recession, and there was a great number of construction halts. This is why the shortage of good quality warehouses is keenly felt. ‘The developers are reacting to this shortage, so they are going for the warehouse segment again at the moment. One should bear in mind, however, that the lags between

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) launched a new technology for reagent decomposition of used-up lubricating coolants. This innovative technology can be used for decomposition of virtually any kinds of coolants that are used in the rolling facilities, regardless of how resistant these coolants are, what their composition is, and what kind of emulsifying and stabilizing agents are used. The development and the launch of the new technology was carried out at MMK’s Sheet-Rolling Department 5. MMK explains that the production of high quality cold-rolled products requires the use of

The first stage of the launch of a multi-faceted product design and lifecycle management system (based on Windchill platform) took off at ChTZ-Uraltrac, the Chelyabinsk-based production site of Uralvagonzavod Scientific Production Corporation. ChTZ-Uraltrac’s current strategic purposes are focused on entering the new segments of Russian and foreign markets through speedy product updates and the introduction of new technologies. For these ambitious plans to come true, the company needs not only to reconstruct its production premises, upgrade machinery, and design new products, but also to

The project for setting up Russian Magnesium in Sverdlovsk Region might be picked up by a new investor if the current proprietor decides to stop any further financing, RIA Novosti-Ural refers to Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Alexander Petrov as saying. The plant Russian Magnesium that will produce magnesium metal and precipitated silica with a nanodimensional structure is now under construction. The company management announced earlier the construction would be completed in 2014. The project requires a total of 16bn RUR worth of investments; the first extension costs 6bn RUR.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 2, 2012. Sverdlovsk Region budget revenues rose by 7.8bn RUR due to non-payable receipts in the first half of 2012, the regional Finance Ministry’s press service reports. The regional budget revenues came to 77.3bn RUR, which is 7.8bn RUR more than in the first half of 2011. These data were reported during Sverdlovsk Region Finance Ministry’s meeting on August 1. The meeting was dedicated to getting budget revenues in the first half of 2012, ways of enhancing the efficiency of using these revenues, and the goals the Russian Federation Finance Ministry set for the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 2, 2012. Mayors of towns must be personally responsible for the performance of administrative committees, Head of the Governor Administration Yakov Silin said at a coordination meeting aimed at supporting law and order in Sverdlovsk Region. ‘We have some complaints to make to the local mayors in terms of how they comply with the administrative legislation. At the moment, 28 municipalities virtually gave up on the administrative committee’s performance. I feel the local authorities need to understand that if towns want to get financial incentives from us they need

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 2, 2012. Ural Airlines announces the launch of a new destination: Yekaterinburg-Budapest. The first flight to the Hungarian capital will be operated on October 2; flights will be offered every week using A 320 aircraft fitted with both a business and an economy class sections. Tickets are already available for sale for ?590 (round trip).