UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 8, 2010. An Israeli company Taldor Arie Rimini might be contracted to create Sverdlovsk Region’s e-government, the regional officials decided during their recent visit to Israel. The delegation comprised the region’s First Deputy Economics Minister Vitaly Nedeslsky and the Counselor to the Minister of Economics Dmitry Kalayev. It has been decided that the Israeli IT experts could consult the project developers on the launch of a product that is unique to Russia for the time being. The Russian officials also visited the technological institute Technion during

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 8, 2010. ‘Our sales of Chrysler automobiles plummeted when the recession began. This is why, in order to avoid financial risks, our company started working with individual orders rather than stocking. Depending on the logistics, one’s car will arrive in something between two weeks and three months,’ the Sales Department of Asmoto, a car show based in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Sverdlovsk Region, told UrBC. In the meantime, ZAO Chrysler RUS reports they are going to set up another dealership in Yekaterinburg. ‘The rumors to this extent have been circulating for a long

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 8, 2010. Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin met Chairman of Riga Duma Nil Ushakov to discuss the two territories’ cooperation potential in the field of trade, science, education, culture, and tourism (including the introduction of a direct flight from Sverdlovsk Region to Latvia). The Governor said a positive trend could be noticed in the development of Sverdlovsk Region and Latvia’s relations. Nil Ushakov said in his turn that a direct Yekaterinburg-Riga flight would promote tourism, given especially the fact that Latvia’s airport is a great

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 8, 2010. The story of a well-known Russian hockey player Pavel Datsyuk responding to the participants of the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s essay contest for children took a new turn. The famous player, who is, in fact, an alumnus of Yekaterinburg hockey school and one of the National Hockey League’s top ten players as well as a multiple Olympic and World champion and winner of the world’s most valuable hockey trophy, the Stanley Cup, wrote some letters to the contestants. The letters are addressed to five children who go in for hockey and who

UrBC, Moscow, December 8, 2010. The international rating agency placed X5 Retail Group N.V. BB- long-term credit rating on CreditWatch, with Negative rating outlook; this means the ratings could be demoted or affirmed. At the same time, Standard & Poor's placed OAO Kopeika Trade House’s B- long-term credit rating and ruBBB national scale rating on CreditWatch with Positive rating outlook, which means the ratings could be promoted or affirmed. ‘Both companies’ ratings were placed on CreditWatch after X5 Retail Group reported it had bought a 100% shareholding in Kopeika,’ the agency’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 7, 2010. 'The video clip which featured foxes running down the city streets was quite good, but in didn’t really do any good to the company it was supposed to promote. I feel this particular ad campaign is a classic example of the admen getting creative for the sake of getting creative, and nothing else. Sadly, this happens quite often when the admen focus on the creative aspects so much that they go out of their way to come up with something breath-taking but entirely forget about the customers’ interests in the process. They don’t stop to think, ‘Will this

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 7, 2010. A number of Sverdlovsk Region’s government officials met the experts of Standard & Poor's International Services, Inc. Moscow representation. In the course of the meeting, the officials’ reports on the region’s economic and financial situation were considered and discussed, the regional Ministry for Economics reports. This meeting is expected to influence the rating agency’s policy regarding the possible changes in Sverdlovsk Region’s credit rating that is currently set at BB, with Stable rating outlook.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 7, 2010. ‘The clients who paid for an advertising campaign which features foxes are more likely to sustain losses than make a profit,’ Director of Public Relations Development & Modernization Institute Evgeny Potapov told UrBC. In fact, the ad campaign in question, which was launched in Yekaterinburg recently, turned out to be an act of manipulation. It was reported in the media at the end of December that some foxes were spotted in downtown Yekaterinburg; this news was actually the beginning of an advertising campaign organized to promote ZAO Uralbroiler. As

UrBC, Moscow, December 7, 2010. Alfa-Bank’s outlet in Krasnodar had to block 7,000 bank cards because their PINs had been stolen, RIA Novosti refers to the bank as saying. The cards were allegedly compromised through one of Krasnodar-based banks’ ATM network. ‘The bank decided to block the cards to protect its customers’ interests, since their PIN-codes were probably made known to some swindlers. This means we managed to prevent a large-scale money-stealing attempt,’ Alfa-Bank reports. All the cards which have been thus compromised will be replaced free of charge.

UrBC, Moscow, December 7, 2010. Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service ruled that the agreement signed by OOO Rexam Beverage Can Naro-Fominsk and OAO Baltika Beer Brewery is actually anti-competitive and violates Article 11 (part 2) of the Competition Protection Act. The violation consisted in that the agreement, signed in 2006, determined certain terms of handling one-liter aluminum cans. According to the Service, the agreement in question limited the other beer producers’ right to package its produce in one-liter aluminum cans, which, in its turn, limited the customers’ choice of beer

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 6, 2010. ZAO Mobil, one of the contractors involved in the construction of Vysotsky skyscraper (part of Antey Business Center), declared it is no longer responsible for the building’s future fate. ‘Our company has been providing the window panes for Antey since 2007. The most advanced technologies were employed in the process, for example, we even handled large 800kg window pane sets. Over the time, the customer came to owe us 20 million RUR altogether, and we decided to sign a debt-settling agreement with the customer at the final stage. However, when the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 6, 2010. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court ruled on October 28, 2010 that OOO Alcomarket Magnum-8, a strong drinks store located at 58 Sverdlov St. (Off 27) in Yekaterinburg should be declared bankrupt, thus closing case А60-34693/2010-С14, Kommersant reports under its Declarations of Insolvency heading. In fact, the other members of the chain store OOO Alcomarket Magnum and OOO Alcomarket Magnum-4 were also declared bankrupt earlier on.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 6, 2010. Koltsovo Airport provided us with the friction coefficient of 0.32 at the runway, which was not enough for the aircraft as big as ours. We needed the coefficient of about 0.4 at least; as it happens, the perfect coefficient comes to as much as 0.65,’ Orenburg Airlines First Deputy Director Sergey Lazarev told UrBC. Meanwhile, the company’s airplane hasn’t been able to leave Yekaterinburg for Goa for over twelve hours now. ‘It’s one thing when a plane like this is bound for Moscow, but a flight to Goa is quite another matter, as the in-flight time comes

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 6, 2010. VFS Global, a visa center which will offer visas to France, Bulgaria, and Greece to the locals, opened in Yekaterinburg. The center’s representatives explain the introduction of such a service in Yekaterinburg has to do with a 30% increase in the number of visa applications from people willing to travel to Europe. The center’s director Elena Trushina explains the place was mainly set up to make it easier for the customers to apply for a visa. ‘It only takes an applicant fifteen minutes at the most to submit the papers. A French visa will take three days

Chelyabinsk Region’s authorities promise to provide their foreign investors with the most comfortable terms to operate in the region, Governor Mikhail Yurevitch announced at a meeting with the heads of foreign countries’ representation in Ural Federal District. A meeting of such diplomatic importance was actually held in Chelyabinsk Region for the first time: twelve diplomats were invited to the Governor’s residence altogether. These were the Consuls of China, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Byelorussia, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, the United States, Vietnam, and France in Ural

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 2, 2010. The travel agents who cooperated with Capital Tours tour operator are now suffering losses. Capital Tours’ problems began on November 15 when Russia’s major tour operator’s accounts were frozen by the creditor banks, so the company was unable to provide for the trips booked by its customers. Capital Tours could be saved through capital investment (some $15m were needed), and there actually were some investors who offered the money to the company. One such investor was the International Financial Club Bank controlled by Mikhail Prokhorov. The bank offered

UrBC, Moscow, December 3, 2010. Bank Uralsib, which is controlled by Nikolai Tsvetkov and has recently made its ownership structure simpler, is going to find a strategic investor of UniCredit or Raiffeisen range or launch an IPO. No other options are available to large private banks because of growing competition with the state-run organizations, the bank reports. However, Russian stockholders are still planning to sell their assets at pre-recession prices, while foreign investors are no longer willing to pay such prices at all, Kommersant refers to a number of experts as saying. ‘Uralsib

Just like a year earlier, the dwellers of Yekaterinburg are evaluating the city in terms of its strong and weak points that could attract or put off high-profile visitors to the place. The Urals’ capital was listed among the cities that will host the world football championship in 2018. There are thirteen cities on the list altogether: Kaliningrad, Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Yaroslavl, Nizhniy Novgorod, Samara, Kazan, Saransk, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Sochi, and Yekaterinburg. The matches will be played at the Central Stadium which will be fully restored next year. The public feels

The world football championship matches will be played in twelve Russian cities, with Yekaterinburg as a reserve place, head of Russian Football Union’s press service Andrei Malosolov told United Russia’s official web portal. ‘The cities which are to host the championship in 2018 have already been selected. The so-called clusters, namely, one in the North-West, one in the Volga Region, the Central one, and the one in the South, have already been determined. The clusters comprise twelve city plus Yekaterinburg as a reserve. These cities are Kaliningrad, Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Yaroslavl,

UrBC, Moscow, December 2, 2010. ‘The foods delivered to Russia by Valio, a Finnish company, raise increasingly more concerns from Rospotrebnadzor,’ RIA Novosti quotes head of the state consumer rights watchdog Gennady Onischenko as saying. ‘The melted cheese packs imported from Finland by Valio, a company that is associated with the market economy and good quality in Russia, unfortunately come to look more and more suspicious,’ Onischenko said. The executive explained the worries had to do with the use of some exotic oils in the production of the cheese in question; he did not specify what