UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 23, 2010. The municipal court of Muravlenko, Yamalo-Nenetskiy Autonomous Region, returned the verdict of guilty on an individual entrepreneur Ilnar Kantuganov. The man was convicted for committing computer information offenses, the spokesperson for Ural Federal District’s division of the Russian Federation General Prosecutor’s Office. It was detected that in November 2008, Kantuganov used certain software programs to get illegitimate access to the data contained in the protected memory sections of SIM cards issued by OAO Uralsvyazinform. He then set up an illegal

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 23, 2010. ‘The number of tours booked this summer went up by an average of 30% compared with a year earlier. The most popular destinations have already sold out, but it’s still too early to sum the season’s gains up: travelers who prefer the high-class vacations usually take some weeks off in September when the ‘family tourism’ is on the decrease. Nevertheless, this summer’s bookings make it clear that Turkey has remained the top destination for the majority of local holiday-makers. On the other hand, Egypt, normally the second most popular vacation place, was

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 23, 2010. ‘This summer, customers have been buying more tours that last year; in fact, the number of bookings soared by a third. Still, we haven’t managed to go back to the sales figures of the year 2008 yet,’ Director of OOO Inna-Tour Inna Averyanova said to UrBC reporters. ‘Turkey and Egypt are still the most popular tourist destinations this year, as always, with Egypt becoming a virtually all-year-round vacation place. This year, the Egyptian hoteliers made every effort to provide good service, good food, and so on. Turkey, on the other hand, turned out to be

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 23, 2010. In January-June 2010, Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) carried out 167 inspections of local companies selling margarine, mayonnaise, vegetable oils, and other fat and oil-based products. Compared with the first half of 2009, the amount of faulty goods dropped by more than three times, Rospotrebnadzor’s press service reports. The above-mentioned inspections included lab tests run on 124 samples of oil and fat-based foods, of which 18 samples (or 6.5%) were found unsatisfactory in terms of the existing

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 20, 2010. Renova Group announced it was going to introduce a single natural gas network operator in Sverdlovsk Region. The statement to this extent was made by member of the company’s Supervisory Board Evgeniy Olkhovik during his meeting with Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin. Olkhovik also said Renova was willing to set up a few large power-generating facilities in the region, the spokesperson for the Governor reports.

UrBC, Moscow, August 20, 2010. OAO AKB Metallinvestbank is no longer a shareholder of OAO Trubodeatl, the bank reports. Metallinvestbank used to own 5.87% of Chelyabinsk-based company’s shares.

UrBC, Moscow, August 20, 2010. OOO KB Renaissance Capital is closing down a number of subsidiaries in some Russian regions; the decision was taken by the bank’s only stakeholder. For one, the bank’s representations in Ulyanovsk, Orenburg, Saratov, Omsk, Ryazan, Tyumen, Novosibirsk, Nizhniy Novgorod, Samara, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, and Ufa stopped operating recently. In fact, Renaissance Capital had closed several other branches earlier, including the ones that used to run in Yekaterinburg and Perm.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 19, 2010. The volume of private individuals’ deposits at OAO Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank came to more than 12.5 billion RUR this summer. The figures have actually grown by nearly 3 billion RUR, or over 30%, since the beginning of the year. The bank’s Retail Development Director Maya Kantor feels this is the expected result of the company’s performance. ‘The beauty of Gubernskiy Bank’s deposits lies in their simplicity and their clear terms. These things attract new customers and increase the number of our investors,’ Kantor says.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 19, 2010. Anton Solovjev was elected President of the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development. Such was the decision made by the bank’s stockholders at the general meeting. For many years preceding this promotion, Anton Solovjev was employed in the capacity of the bank’s Vice President and Financial Director. At the same time, the general meeting did not bring any changes in the structure of the stockholders, the bank points out.

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Mikhail Yurevitch discussed the prospects of upgrading the region’s healthcare reform with his deputies and members of the regional Cabinet. Two large-scale meetings took place in Moscow last week. The meetings, chaired by Head of the Russian Federation Government Vladimir Putin and Health & Social Welfare Minister Tatiana Golikova, were dedicated to the upcoming living standards and healthcare improvements. Thus the agenda of the meeting run by Mikhail Yurevitch covered issues related to upgrades of medical establishments in the region, the spokesperson for

UrBC, Moscow, August 19, 2010. Moscow’s public prosecution authorities for law-compliance in the field of air and water transportation placed eight claims against Avianova Airlines and one claim against Sky Express with Moscow Arbitration Court, Kommersant reports. An Avianova representative says all the claims have to do with flights delayed in July because of the reasons allegedly unrelated to the airline itself. Sky Express refused to provide any comments on the prosecution authorities’ claims prior to receiving the official notice. As a matter of fact, this summer these carriers delayed a

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 19, 2010. Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) placed all the materials related to the poor sanitary condition of Yekaterinburg-based Koltsovo Airport with the regional public prosecution authorities, the division informed Sutyazhnik, an NGO. Rospotrebnadzor’s regional division told Sutyazhnik that the quality of atmospheric air in the area affected by discharges does not meet the existing hygienic requirements. For one, the ethyl benzene content in the air exceeds the norms by 2.4 to 5.6 times; these data are stated

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 19, 2010. The extraordinary general meeting of OAO Uralmashzavod stockholders held in Yekaterinburg resulted in the decision to raise the company’s authorized capital with the help of an additional issue of 82.05 million shares with face value of 0.5 RUR each. The shares will be offered for 51 RUR a share via closed subscription to OAO Gazprombank, ZAO Gazprombank-Asset Management, Gazprombank-Machine-Building Trust Management Fund, OOO Trion, OOO Aquilon, OOO Ronex, OOO Trade, and ZAO Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 19, 2010. Ural Airlines customers can now pay for the tickets booed via the company’s official website using Contact network. The service was launched in cooperation with Bilet-On-Line and now unites the entire booking and payment procedure into one convenient system. ‘Paying through Contact saves time because one can do several things at once, for example, do some shopping and buy tickets. One can also avoid the long queues in the booking offices. This is a convenient way of paying for people who don’t have an electronic wallet as well as for Visa Electron

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 19, 2010. OAO Maxi Group is going to take civil action against its minority shareholder Nikolai Maksimov within the framework of a criminal case investigation. The claim regarding damages was placed by Maxi Group with Sverdlovsk Region Department of Internal Affairs. The scale of the damages was determined by the value of a loan that had been partially given back to Maksimov (5.9 billion RUR), RBC daily reports. Now Nikolai Maksimov sent a letter to the Russian President; in it, he claims that the criminal case against him was a concocted one, and he believes the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 18, 2010. ‘Trying to introduce some urban sprawl is not worth the candle. It is a pointless thing to do; the sprawl won’t do any good. If there exists a worthy project, it is the one of Greater Yekaterinburg as a single municipality,’ Mayor of Yekaterinburg Arkadiy Chernetskiy said at a press conference. At the same time, Mayor of Berezovskiy Vyacheslav Brozovskiy suggested that the fifteen satellites around Yekaterinburg should be merged into a mega-city. ‘The benefits of a merger are self-obvious, and our common sense must win. The only problem is that this

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 18, 2010. In the first half of 2010, the revenues of OAO Uralmashzavod decreased by 285.82 million RUR and amounted to 1,699,337,000 RUR against 1,983,331,000 RUR a year earlier, the plant’s report states. The greatest drop in revenues (by 163.57 million RUR) was felt in the oil and gas drilling machinery sector. On the other hand, the company’s net loss went down to 482.78 million RUR.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 18, 2010. X5 Retail Group N.V. opened its first Perekrestok supermarket in Yekaterinburg. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by Mayor of Yekaterinburg Arkadiy Chernetskiy and Vice Mayor Viktor Konteev. The total area of the store comes to 964 sq m, which is actually a bit smaller than the standard area of the chain’s outlets, that is, about 1,200 sq m. This is why the product range comprises only 12,000 items instead of the standard 16,000 items. ‘The current shopping space makes it impossible to display everything we have got. We are planning to expand in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 18, 2010. The 1st Ural Industrial Biennale of Contemporary Art (September 9, 2010 – October 10, 2010, Yekaterinburg) gives the locals a chance to voice their opinion of the city’s most hideous building. VOTE FOR DEMOLITION, the project of a Mexican artist Gustavo Artigas, is a study on how the local people see their own surroundings and on the democratic ways of changing the urban environment. The project is a survey on which buildings Yekaterinburg locals would like to see demolished/ destroyed. This August, twelve buildings were picked out by a board of experts –

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 18, 2010. The Ural division of Rosprirodnadzor (the state environmental watchdog) completed its field check of OAO Verkh-Isetskiy Metallurgical Plant’s compliance with the environmental legislation. Eight offenses were detected in the course of investigation, the spokesperson for Rosprirodnadzor reports, including one violation in the field of water bodies use and protection, five problems related to waste treatment, and two offenses in the field of free air protection. In order for the violations to be eliminated, the plant was given corresponding orders with