The criminal lawsuit involving a Yekaterinburg entrepreneur Alexei Kalinichenko is still in progress; the businessman is suspected of setting up a pyramid scheme called Global Gaming Expo and stealing over 1 billion RUR worth of 4,000 Russian citizens’ savings. The investigation of the case has been prolonged till September 2011 and could be prolonged even further not only because this is a difficult case but also because the amount of work to be done is enormous. There are about 4,000 victims, and everyone has to be accounted for. Our investigative officer works every day,’ the press service

Bank Yekaterinburg Board of Directors held a meeting on May 31, 2011 to elect Mayor of Yekaterinburg Alexander Yakob Chairman of the Board. The news has been reported via the bank’s official website.

Yekaterinburg has 0.5 sq m worth of office space per every 1,000 dwellers, which makes it Russia’s No. 2 in terms of office in space, the spokesperson for Deputy Mayor of Yekaterinburg Viktor Konteev Ilona Starodubtseva announced recently. As far as good quality offices are concerned, Yekaterinburg is only overcome by Moscow with its 2.2 sq m of office space per every 1,000 dwellers. The two leaders are followed by Saint Petersburg with its 0.4 sq m of office space per every 1,000 dwellers, and Kazan and Omsk, with 0.27 sq m and 0.17 sq m worth of office space per every 1,000 dwellers,

Sverdlovsk Region is going to buy 150,000 shares of Mid-Urals Development Corporation; each share comes at 1,000 RUR apiece. The shares in question are an additional issue of the corporation’s ordinary registered paperless shares worth a total of 150m RUR.

UTair Engineering BOD recommended that the stockholders vote for passing the dividend for the year 2010 at the upcoming AGM on June 22, 2011, the company’s press service reports. The dividends will probably not be paid because the company’s losses amounted to 94.63m RUR last year.

The European and American inflation rates have left the Russian ones behind, says the statistical report provided via the website of Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service on the inflation in Russia and abroad. According to Rosstat, the inflation rates came to 0.4% in Russia in march 2011, whereas in the EU inflation reached 0.5% on average, and the inflation rates for the United States were registered at 0.6% on average. In April 2011, consumer prices went up most dramatically against March 2011 in Byelorussia (4.5%), Malta (2.1%), and Cyprus (1.4%). Prices actually went down in one

Uralkhimmash Board of Directors suggested that the enterprise’s stockholders vote for passing the dividend on either ordinary registered shares or type A preferred registered shares for the year 2010. The recommendation was made because the company sustained some losses in the past financial year. The agenda of the upcoming annual general meeting also covers issues like confirming the changes in the company’s charter and adopting a new edition of the provision on the BOD.

Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (a member of ChTPZ Group) was declared one of Sverdlovsk Region’s best taxpayers in the year 2010. This decision was made by a special board of experts at a meeting in the region’s Ministry for Industry. The awarding ceremony will take place in June 2011.

The Economic News Agency prepared a rating of Russia’s best lobbyists in April 2011 for Nezavisimaya Gazeta. BOD Chairman of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Viktor Rashnikov was given the 21st position in the First People Lobbyists category (Strong Efficiency subgroup), which means he retained the position he got in the previous rating. This is actually one of the best results among the VIPs of Russia’s ferrous metallurgy business. The research, which Nezavisimaya Gazeta carries on a monthly basis, determines just how effective the performance of private and state organizations’

Some changes were introduced to UralTransBank BOD recently: President of Ural Federal University Stanislav Naboichenko, who is no longer an independent director after being on the Board for over seven years, has been replaced by UFU Provost for Economics & Strategic Development Daniil Sandler. The decision to this extent was taken by the bank’s stockholders in the course of the annual general meeting on May 27, 2011.

In accordance with Order 62-11-601/pz-i of Russia’s Federal Financial Markets Service Ural Federal District division as of May 27, 2011, the issue of Sverdlovsk Region-based Ural University Campus ordinary registered paperless shares was halted.

Nissan Company’s Saint Petersburg-based plant had to put up with a five-day stoppage, that is, until June 3, 2011, inclusively, ITAR-TASS reports. Now it is this particular enterprise that is currently the key supplier of Nissan automobiles to Yekaterinburg. According to the company’s press service, this idle time will allow them to synchronize the plant’s production processes with the schedule for delivering the car parts from Japan. The decision to change the Saint Petersburg’s plant’s working hours was made because the production in Japan stopped at the end of March and early in April

Forbes came up with its rating of Russia’s 30 most business-friendly regions. Tatarstan was declared No.1, while Sverdlovsk Region was given the second place, followed by Krasnodar Territory. Areas like Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Moscow Region, and Leningrad Region did not compete in the rating because of their unique status, whereas the republics of the North Caucasus were not featured in the rating due to security problems.

UTair Airlines plane traveling from Tyumen to Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport had to perform an emergency landing due to engine failure, Rosaviation’s official representative Sergey Izvolsky told RIA Novosti. The plane departed from Tyumen at 7:40 PM local time (5:40 PM Moscow time) and had to get back to the airport as soon as twenty minutes after the take-off. The crew announced that the aircraft would have to perform an emergency landing in Tyumen. There were sixty-five passengers aboard the plane; no one was hurt. Later on, these passengers flew to Moscow via another airplane.

RBC Rating and Banks-Rate.ru came up with a rating of Russia’s 500 largest banks. The rating contestants were ranked on the basis of several criteria, including the size of net and liquid assets, a bank’s lending portfolio, the volume of loans issued to businesses and private individuals, and a bank’s deposit portfolio. According to the ranking based on the banks’ liquid assets as of April 1, 2011, VUZ-Bank was one of Russia’s 300 largest banks, with its liquid assets growing by 49.43% in the course of one year, which secured the company a promotion in the rating by as many as fifty-seven

The international rating agency Fitch Ratings called off the ratings of Bank Rossiya, including the long-term Issuer Default Rating (which stood at B). Fitch will no longer have access to enough information needed to keep the ratings going, as the bank decided not to get rated any longer. Fitch no longer rates this bank or provides any analysis for it,’ the agency reports.

Evraz Kachkanarsky Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise’s Board of Directors recommended that the company’s shareholders vote for passing the dividend for the year 2010 at the upcoming AGM. The annual general meeting is set for June 30, 2010.

Fitch Ratings rated Russia-based Home Credit and Finance Bank at BB- in terms of long-term Issuer Default Ratings in national and foreign currencies, with Stable Rating Outlook. The bank’s ratings are supported by its good profitability, reasonable asset quality throughout the economic cycle, and clever risk management as well as its great capacity to generate monetary resources and its impressive capitalization. At the same time, even though the bank had its funds diversified considerably due to deposits, these deposits still have to stand the test of time and prove stable. What is more, the

The international rating agency Standard & Poor's reconsidered the rating outlook of Russian Bank Uralsib from Negative to Stable; the bank’s long-term and short-term contractor ratings were affirmed at B+ and B, respectively. The new rating outlook indicates that the bank’s financial performance has been experiencing less market pressure lately due to the gradual improvement of working conditions at home. Uralsib cut down on the transactions with the related parties and the quality of its assets tends to be improving now. The pressure on the bank’s liquidity isn’t as strong as it

This Kurgan Region-based enterprise might not be able to deliver a number of upgraded combat vehicles, which the Russian airborne troops are now switching to, to the army due to financial reasons, head of troops Vladimir Shamanov told RIA Novosti. According to this military official, the rearmament of the troops is being carried out in strict accordance with the set regulations. First of all, this involves upgrades of our BMD-1 (combat vehicles 1), BMD-2, and Nonnas, the self-propelled guns, through automation,’ the General said. However, the problem relating to fulfilling the state defense