Starting April 13, 2012, Belavia Airlines will no longer be operating flights to Yekaterinburg. This ban (involving a number of other Russian cities as well) was imposed by Rosaviation, Kommersant reports. The ultimatum delivered by Byelorussia to Russian air carriers resulted in yet another conflict escalation in the field of air travel. In response to Byelorussia threatening to limit the number of flights Russian airlines can operate from Moscow to Minsk, Russia’s Transport Ministry informed Byelorussia that, starting April 13, Belavia will also be unable to operate flights from Minsk to

DVI Ural has been placed on the list of companies owing more than 1m RUR to the Russian Federation’s budget. This information (good as of March 15, 2012) was provided by Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Tax Service.

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, April 6, 2012. Under the Russian Federation President Dmitri Medvedev’s decree the Director-General of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Boris Dubrovsky was awarded the Order of Honor. MMK executive was given the award for his ‘work achievements and many years of conscientious performance’. Boris Dubrovsky was born in Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region on November 22, 1958. He graduated with honors from Magnitogorsk Mining & Metallurgical Academy in 1990 with a major in metal forming and from the Russian Presidential Academy of National

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 5, 2012. 3.9% of workplaces in Yekaterinburg’s Ordzhonikidzevsky district do not meet the sanitary and hygienic requirements in terms of air pollutants concentration; 6% of workplaces have excessive noise levels, and 3.8% of workplaces have excessive vibration, Rospotrebnadzor reports. In 2011, 26 instances of professional chronic illnesses were diagnosed in Ordzhonikidzevsky district; the greatest proportion of those was diagnosed at Uralmashzavod. In 2011, fifteen instances were diagnosed at the plant (compared with ten cases a year earlier). This came to 57% of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 5, 2012. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court looked into the clash between Sverdlovsk Region division of Federal Consumer Rights Protection Surveillance Agency (Rospotrebnadzor) and Koltsovo Airport. Rospotrebnadzor’s regional division’s claims were considered to be well-grounded, legitimate, and accomplishable, the division’s press service reports. In 2011, the agency inspected Koltsovo Airport for compliance with the sanitary legislation, consumer rights legislation, and licensing requirements. The inspection revealed numerous violations of the sanitary and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 5, 2012. Beloyarskaya nuclear power station’s US BAES, the daughter company of Uralenergostroy that was set up specifically to supervise the construction and assembly jobs at the power station’s power generating unit BN 800, was featured in a bankruptcy claim submitted to Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court on April 2, 2012. The plaintiff’s representative Finishing Jobs Directorate 1 told the reporters that US BAES owed them over 7m RUR. For the time being, the court took no action regarding the claim. In fact, the court is also considering another claim laid by

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 5, 2012. Koltsovo Airport’s spring- and summer-timetable came into effect at the end of March. The timetable offers flights to all the 98 available destinations, of which 58 destinations are international ones (of which 34 destinations are holiday ones, including those around the CIS), and 40 are domestic ones. Among the new destinations expected to be available are Harbin, Shardzha, Urumchi, Lenkoran, Gyumri, Kulyab, Noyabrsk, Vorkuta, and Makhachkala. More flights are now being operated to nearly all the popular summer holiday destinations. The number of flights

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 5, 2012. AstanaEnergoPromStroy & Co increased the sum of the claim against Beloyarskaya nuclear power station’s US BAES to 76.67m RUR. The sum comprises 61.53m RUR worth of unpaid work completed in accordance with the contractor’s agreement and 15.23m RUR worth of interest charged for using another party’s funds. In fact, the original sum of the claim placed with Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court came to 73.98m RUR. US BAES tried to get the court to declare that the plaintiff had missed the action limitation period, but the court rejected the station’s

Ural Civil Aviation Plant is now on the list of companies whose debt to the Russian Federation budget exceeds 1m RUR. These data (good as of March 15, 2012) were presented by Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Tax Service.

Rostourism took 301 companies off its Unified Register of Tour Operators recently. For one, Yekaterinburg International Tourism Bureau Sputnik was among the excluded operators, the Association of Russian Tour Operators reports. According to what Deputy Head of Rostourism’s Legal Department Gennady Chutkin said at the Public Chamber meeting on changes in the tourist legislation, normally only about ten to fifteen companies get excluded from the register. ‘301 businesses is an impressive figure. They might steel be able to renew their financial guarantees and make it back to the register.

Ural Transport Machine-Building Plant is now on the list of companies whose debt to the Russian Federation budget exceeds 1m RUR. These data (good as of March 15, 2012) were presented by Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Tax Service.

An investment committee chaired by Governor Alexander Misharin has been set up in Sverdlovsk Region. The Governor’s decree states that the committee’s key tasks are to improve the region’s investment climate, to promote a unified policy aimed at rational distribution of production forces throughout the area, to come up with proposals for the Governor concerning the local investment climate improvements, and to develop state-private partnership. Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Anatoly Gredin and the region’s Investments & Development Minister Mikhail Maksimov were appointed Deputy

Russian Railways Public Company is considering hiring foreign companies as consultants for the reconstruction of some railway stations in Russia, the company’s Railway Stations Directorate reports. The carrier’s experts are now elaborating the idea and are discussing it with the interested foreign companies. The task is to convert Russia’s railway stations into transportation and connecting hubs, RIA Novosti reports. For one, experts from AREP (Sociйtй Nationale des Chemins de fer Franсais/SNCF’s daughter enterprise) might be involved in the reconstruction of Krasnodar Territory-based railway

Ural Locomotives (Sinara Group and Siemens AG’s joint venture) came up with a draft plan of a direct current ES2G city express modeled on Desiro RUS (Lastochka) train, Sinara Group’s PR Department reports. This direct current ES2G train is being developed in accordance with Russian Railways Public Company’s technical specifications. The city express is expected to be used mainly on Moscow inner city railway and on heavy passenger traffic routes. The express will differ from Lastochka in terms of capacity, seating, interior details, and the composition of the machinery used.

Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (ChTPZ) supplied 2,600 tons of single PEWs with (diameter range 530mm - 820mm, wall width 20mm to 25mm) and 180 tons of weldless hot-rolled heavy-duty pipes (diameter range 299mm to 426mm) to the construction site of a new railway station in Adler. The railway station is designed to function as a transportation and connecting hub uniting the railway, the air, and the water means of transportation; its traffic capacity is expected to reach up to 15,000 people an hour. To fulfill this order, ChTPZ experts visited the construction site and got acquainted with the

Ural Airlines operated its first Moscow-Cologne-Moscow flight last Monday. Fifty-two passengers flew from Moscow to the capital of North Rhine Westfalia, and eighty-four people were on the return flight, which means this is a very popular offer, the company’s press service reports. The flight is operated three times a week, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; starting June, an extra flight on Thursday will be added to the timetable. The cheapest one-way tickets are available for ?30 (economy class, fees excluded) and for ?199 (business class, fees excluded). The timetable has been designed

An inspection conducted by Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution authorities for the environment at Reftinskaya power station (a subsidiary of Enel OGK-5) revealed some grave violations of the environmental legislation. The power station in question is one the largest heat and power stations meant for supplying electric power to the industrially developed areas in the region and for supplying heat to the village of Reftinsky. The power station is a subsidiary of Enel OGK-5, has headquarters in Moscow), and belongs to the Italian company Enel. All in all, over fifty violations of the

The tender for the organization of Ural International Industry & Innovations Exhibition/Forum Innoprom 2012 had to be annulled, the government purchases-tracking website reports. The contract was offered for 100m RUR, with the financing supplied from Sverdlovsk Region budget. The state order was placed by Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Investments & Development. It turned out that only one bidder, Formica, placed their application. Under the current government purchases legislation, when no other applicants compete for the tender, the order goes to the only bidder. ‘No problems are to

The claim laid by Sverdlovsk Heat Supply Company (STK) against Enel OGK-5 will be heard in Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court on April 13, 2012. The claim is related to forcing the defendant to sign a heat energy supply agreement. The hearing of the claim began in December 2011 when STK went to court with a claim on forcing the defendant to sign a heat energy supply agreement with them on the plaintiff’s terms. The defendant provided a written renouncement of the claim, referring to the fact that the draft agreement on the energy and feed water supply No. 3215 they had received had actually

OAO TransContainer launched a freightliner between Saint Petersburg and Sverdlovsk Region, the railway operator’s press service reports. The first 57-carriage train took off from Saint Petersburg-Finlyandsky Station; the carriages were loaded with multi-tonnage containers belonging to other proprietors. Starting from April 2012, the freightliner is expected to be available two times a month.