‘We are not going to stop renewing our aircraft. In 2010, we’ll keep replacing our TU154B airplanes with A320 and A321 ones,’ General Director of Ural Airlines Sergey Skuratov said in the course of a solemn opening ceremony of the company’s new office in Yekaterinburg. The ceremony that took place on December 12, 2009 was actually attended by the Russian Federation Transport Minister Igor Levitin and Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin. Ural Airlines’ GD spoke about the latest data available as to the company’s passenger turnover in 2009 (the figure went up by 2% against the year

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court began the hearing of the claim laid by the Bank of Russia’s Main Division in Sverdlovsk Region (on behalf of the Central Bank of Russia as a whole) against Ural Innovational Commercial Bank (UIC Bank) and Alexei Bagaryakov, Galina Devonina, and Nadezhda Zykova. The claim is related to how the defendants applied the consequences stemming from the invalidity of some legal transactions. According to the bank’s official website, Galina Devonina owns a 19.9% shareholding in the bank’s authorized capital and Nadezhda Zykova owns a 5.1% shareholding. Alexei

‘When the management company of Alatyr mall failed the midnight opening of Media Markt’s new store in Yekaterinburg it made it clear to everyone that the company does not care about the customers at all. The management company’s negligence and lack of professionalism are quite obvious to me. I feel if anything like this is about to happen, the organizers must do their best to inform the public about the cancellation and to try and minimize their dissatisfaction by compensating the potential customers somehow,’ President of Territoria (Association of Regional Medical Insurers) Maxim

‘Of course we heard about how the opening of MediaMarkt failed at Alatyr shopping mall recently. The fact that the would-be customers who were willing to visit the store at night ended up waiting outside indicates a big marketing mistake of the management company; this is a huge blunder that surpasses all imagination. To tell the truth, if I had been one of those customers, I would definitely be anything but loyal to this mall. At any rate, I’m certainly not going to shop there now,’ Chairman of Yekaterinburg Tenant Union Alexander Murzin said to UrBC. The night-time opening ceremony of

Debtor businesses are increasingly trying to back out of debt repayment by going bankrupt, President of the Association of Regional Russian Banks Anatoly Aksakov announced at an interregional coordinating meeting in Yekaterinburg. The meeting was devoted to the economy’s real sector and the banking system’s developmental prospects as well as to toxic assets and bankruptcy laws. Aksakov believes the most threatening thing is that a holding sometimes tries to transfer all the debt to one of its companies while withdrawing all the assets from it at the same time. This scheme is quite popular

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court keeps looking into the claim laid by OOO Perspektiva against OOO Rosinter Restaurants Yekaterinburg regarding reclamation of property from dispossession. The plaintiff insists that the defendant return a building at 6 Sverdlov St. in Yekaterinburg back to the plaintiff. The building is owned by Perspektiva and must be returned to the proprietor along with the keys and the project documentation through a transfer act. Rosinter Restaurants Yekaterinburg maintains the plaintiff’s claims have no grounds. ‘We don’t see why they should complain because we decided

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin held a meeting with UC RUSAL BOD Chairman and Chairman of Renova Group’s Supervisory Board and BOD Viktor Vekselberg. Vekselberg told the Governor about how their Sverdlovsk Region-based aluminum-producing and nonferrous metal-processing enterprises were coping. The two executives also spoke about the measures taken to solve the companies’ problems. All in all, six of UC RUSAL’s enterprises, namely, Sevuralboksitruda, Bogoslovskiy smelter, Ural smelter, Ural Foil, Polevskoy cryolith plant, and SUAL-Kremniy-Ural, have found it hard to go on

OAO Pnevmostroymashina will have to pay a 700,000-ruble fine for an administrative offense related to its activity on the securities market. The decision to this extent was taken by Ural Federal District’s division of the Federal Financial Market Service.

The public prosecution authorities of Nizhniy Tagil, Sverdlovsk Region detected some violations of the laws on employment and social protection of people with disabilities at nineteen Nizhniy Tagil-based enterprises, the spokesperson for the prosecution authorities reports. ‘The violations consisted in Vodokanal-NT, Tagildorstroy Municipal Unitary Enterprise, Vysokogorskiy Ore Mining and Processing Enterprise (VGOK, Evraz Group asset) Avtotsekh-VGOK, Central Municipal Library, and Nizhniy Tagil Teachers Training College not complying with the official quotas for employing people with

‘Once the opening ceremony of MediaMarkt consumer electronics chain store has failed so spectacularly after an aggressive advertising campaign and with the opening time scheduled for midnight, the brand owners are bound to sustain considerable reputation losses,’ Project Manager of Onegin Advertising Group Alyona Andropova said to UrBC. The night-time opening ceremony of MediaMarkt failed in Alatyr Shopping Center in Yekaterinburg. Despite all the claims made by the opening coordinators, the store never started working at 12 AM on December 10, 2009. TEN-Development Management Company has

Former Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel is going to represent Sverdlovsk Region’s executive body in the Soviet of the Federation. The decision to this extent was taken in the joint meeting of the region’s Legislative Assembly’s both chambers on December 10, 2009. The proposal won twenty-three votes of Sverdlovsk Region Duma deputies (with three deputies absent) and eighteen votes at the House of Representatives (which was a unanimous vote). Prior to Eduard Rossel, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region was represented in the Soviet of the Federation by Alexander Shkolnik.

The director of Sverdlovsk Region-based Beloyarskaya nuclear power station Nikolai Oshkanov is leaving soon. According to the spokesperson for the station, Oshkanov, who has been employed as the station director for seven years, has reached retirement age. The executive’s resignation has been coordinated with the management of Rosenergoatom. The station’s PR department says Oshkanov’s performance has been quite satisfactory. The new head might be appointed during Rosenergoatom’s GD Sergey Obozov’s visit to Yekaterinburg before the end of this week.

The technical opening of Alatyr Trade and Entertainment Center has already taken place in Yekaterinburg. The only shop that is currently operating there is Media Markt, the German consumer electronics chain store. The better part of the center’s six-storey premises is still being finished, with future boutiques’ cubicles covered in banners. What’s more, the temperature in the building is quite low everywhere except MediaMarkt. ‘We are currently doing all the repair and finishing jobs and hope our tenants will have completed everything by January or February 2010. This is when we are planning

The night-time opening ceremony of MediaMarkt, the German consumer electronics chain store, failed in Alatyr Shopping Center in Yekaterinburg. Despite all the claims made by the opening coordinators, the store never started working at 12 AM on December 10, 2009. The official reason for this failure is declared to be ‘technological problems’. At any rate, this is exactly what the shopping center managers and security staff said. They had to communicate with the potential customers, who had arrived at the mall at midnight. A lot of them were lured in by MediaMarkt adverts that promised

The profits of Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works (NLMK) amounted to $4.32bn in January-September 2009; this figure was 55% lower than that for January-September 2008, the company’s consolidated financial report for the three quarters of 2009 states. NLMK’s gross profit plunged by 73% down to $1.3bn, while its operating profit decreased by 86% and came to $545m. The money flow shrank by 34%. At the same time, the company’s net debt rose by 29% and reached $761m. The enterprise’s EBITDA came to $917m in January-September 2009, which was 77% less than in the nine months of 2008. The EBITDA

Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state technological, nuclear, and environmental safety watchdog) carried out a number of scheduled inspections of Ural Chemical Agents Plant based in Verkhnyaya Pyshma. Eight violations of the law were detected in the course of the inspection, so the inspecting officials issued seven orders, drew up administrative offense protocols, and imposed several administrative fines on the offender, the spokesperson for Ural Federal District’s division of Rospotrebnadzor reports. In addition to this, five violations were revealed at Irgina health

The Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation intends to contest the court’s ruling regarding the case of TNK-BP Holding. The oil company was accused of violating the competition protection laws but was later acquitted by the court due to a number of legal precedents that had been favorable for the oil companies. Tyumen Region Arbitration Court agreed with TNK-BP that the FAS’s orders had been illegal and also declared the administrative fine imposed on the company for abuse of its dominant position on the oil wholesale market illegitimate. The Federal Antimonopoly Service,

Former First Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government and Minister for Industry and Science Anatoly Gredin has recently been appointed Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government. The new Head is fifty-three years old. He graduated from Ural Electromechanical Institute of Railway Engineers in 1978 with a degree in Transport Routes Engineering & Railway Maintenance. Anatoly Gredin started working at Sverdlovsk Region Railways in 1978 as Ugleuralskaya station duty officer and was then promoted to switching dispatcher, chief engineer, head of Chusovskaya station, department director of

The current PR Director of Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) Alexei Sotskov might become the spokesperson for Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin. However, the news has not been officially confirmed yet. Alexei Sotskov was born in 1979. He graduated from the Department of Journalism of Ural State University and worked at Regional Television. After moving to Moscow, he held positions in Mechel and TMK.

‘The Russian banking business grows 1.5 times more rapidly in the provinces than it does in Moscow. In the Urals, for example, our business development rate is 2.4 times faster than the bank’s average. In Yekaterinburg, the growth rate is actually 3.6 times faster than the bank’s average. In fact, our Yekaterinburg segment is responsible for nearly a half of Bank VTB 24 deposit portfolio in Sverdlovsk Region. This segment’s share of the regional deposit portfolio has gone up by one-third since the recession began,’ Deputy President and Deputy Chairman of Bank VTB 24 Supervisory Board