Moscow, 14 August 2008 – UC RUSAL, the owner of 25% plus two shares of Norilsk Nickel, announces its intention to call for an extraordinary meeting of Norilsk Nickel shareholders to elect a new Board of Directors and will file a demand to convene this meeting in early September. UC RUSAL believes that the current Board, fully controlled by Interros, is incapable of reversing a slide in Norilsk Nickel’s market value.љ UC RUSAL is completing consultations with Norilsk Nickel minority shareholders held over the last two months to discuss the current situation at the company and the creation of a

During his meeting with the heads of regional municipalities, Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin suggested that humanitarian aid collecting centers should be set up in each regional town and district. The Governor said, ‘The Georgian troops have destroyed the land of South Ossetia, sparing no one; Our President Dmitriy Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and the Russian armed forces’ efforts helped to restore peace in the area, but the local people are still in dire need of our help. I’m sure Chelyabinsk Region’s dwellers will both provide them with humanitarian aid and take part

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by UralTransBank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 181 days to 1 year went down by 31.16% (from 469.712 million RUR to 323.318 million RUR) in January-July 2008.

‘The introduction of greater insurance claims will result in only three tour operators able to work on the Russian market,’ Director of Schastliviy Sluchai Tour Operator Regina Klimova said to UrBC. In the meantime, a number of insurance companies feel the current scale of tour operators’ financial security guaranteed by the existing legislation is not enough to make up for the consequences of their possible bankruptcies. These insurers say the back-up sum has to be more impressive. ‘If one wants to be a travel agent and sell trips abroad, one will have to take out a 100,000-ruble insurance

‘Offering our business customers certain salary schemes where the employees’ pay is transferred onto their bank cards is one of SKB-Bank’s major retail business priority. The bank has already provided its customers with nearly 500,000 VISA-SKB cards, most of which are used for these salary schemes,’ says SKB-Bank’s Retail Products Management Director Vitaliy Kopysov. ‘The proportion of ‘salary’ bank cards in the total volume of cards the bank issues clearly indicates that SKB-Bank is thoroughly concentrated on this market segment. The profitability of salary schemes primarily depends on the

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to sole traders for 181 days to 1 year went down by 15.44% (from 9.081 million RUR to 7.678 million RUR) in January-July 2008.

The number of complaints related to Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg’s performance decreased from twenty-three in the first half of 2007 to twenty-one in January-July 2008. The spokesperson for the airport reports most complaints have to do with the delayed and/or damaged luggage. The problem has therefore been taken under the management’s special control; in addition, the legal upper limits for the luggage wait have been reduced.

Starting September 1, 2008, Ural Airlines is going to operate a new morning flight bound for Moscow. This will be the carrier’s seventh daily flight operated from Yekaterinburg to Moscow. The departure time is 7.25 AM; the arrival time is 7.40 AM; the plane takes off from Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg and lands at Domodedovo airport of Moscow. ‘Our morning flights fully meet the local business community’s needs: passengers can now plan their day within the accuracy of a minute. The timetable gives them a chance to choose whether they would like to come to the negotiations earlier or spend

According to the Central Bank of Russia, the volume of loans given by UralFinPromBank to sole traders for 91 to 180 days went down by 58.90% (from 27.5 million RUR to 11.3 million RUR) in January-July 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in Pervouralsk Joint Stock Commercial Bank valid for 181 days to 1 year went down by 98.48% (from 32.9 million RUR to 500,000 RUR) in January-July 2008.

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service laid a claim against Bank Uralsib for the company’s alleged violation of the federal advertising law, the spokesperson for the Service reports. The bank’s advertisements devoted to their car loans, mortgages, and a grace-period credit card were reported to lack some essential information on the products. The Service believes Bank Uralsib’s ads thus violate Article 5 (part seven) of the federal bill on advertising. The case is to be considered by Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service’s Committee on

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Bank Uralfinance to private individuals for up to 30 days dropped by 100% (from 1.15 million RUR to zero) in January-July 2008.

Moscow, љ13 August 2008 – UC RUSAL, the world’s largest aluminium and alumina producer, announces today that it has filed a lawsuit with the arbitration court against LUKOIL, the primary supplier of oil coke to UC RUSAL’s facilities, for disruptions in its supply of raw materials. Since April 2008, LUKOIL has reduced the supply of oil coke to UC RUSAL’s largest aluminium smelters by almost two times and as a result has not been fulfilling its long-term contractual obligations. According to the contract signed between the two companies in 2006, LUKOIL is obliged to supply oil coke to UC RUSAL

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin was Ural Federal District’s most frequently referred to Governor, as far as the Russian media were concerned, in July 2008: the Governor was alluded to in 476 various printed and electronic resources, Interfax’s complex news analysis system indicates. Governor of Tyumen Region Vladimir Yakushev is the second most popular person, with 381 various articles where his name was mentioned in July 2008, followed by Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel (whose name was mentioned in 350 articles and news), Governor of Khanty-Mansiyskiy Autonomous Region

‘It is the current Ossetian-Georgian conflict that was behind the stock market’s fall last Friday. This was simply bound to happen, since Russia got involved in this war and given the fact that information was very limited for a long period of time, while all the news from the West were positively anti-Russian,’ Eurogreen Investment and Finance Company’s General Director Evgeniy Kostarev said to UrBC. The RTS index dropped by 2.92% on Friday and, as the negative trends continued into the weekend, the index fell by another 4.13% on Monday, August 11, 2008. ‘Things have got more or less back to

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UniCreditBank to nonresident legal entities for 181 days to 1 year went down by 52.66% (from 1,684,827,000 RUR to 797,548,000 RUR) in January-July 2008.

955 workers underwent some training at UC RUSAL’s Bogoslovskiy smelter in the first half of 2008. 158 people were able to upgrade their job evaluation categories, while 348 people attended further education courses. Besides, 104 people won in the local tour of UC RUSAL’s professional contest and 200 production training instructors took part in the professional development seminars, UC RUSAL’s press officer in the Urals Roman Lukichev reports. ‘The enterprise can now boast a highly efficient personnel professional training and development system. Bogoslovskiy smelter actually has a license

‘The cost of vacations and the fuel fees have gone up by 30% on average since the beginning of the season; moreover, trips are going to become even more expensive due to the dollar exchange rate coming up,’ Elita Travel’s manager Oxana Volkova said to UrBC. ‘Turkey is still the most popular destination with Sverdlovsk Region’s dwellers; trips to Croatia and Montenegro enjoy very stable demand as well: the planes bound for these countries are always full,’ Oxana Volkova added.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by TagilBank to private individuals for 181 days to 1 year dropped by 14.18% (from 16.3 million RUR to 13.988 million RUR) in January-July 2008.

‘We first offered the packages to our business customers less than six months ago. Since then, over 70% of legal entities that use our bank have switched to this or that package. The percentage actually looks less impressive in some cities, while in some more economically advanced places like Nizhniy Tagil, Kamensk-Uralskiy, and Pervouralsk the figures are even greater,’ says head of URSA Bank’s Sverdlovsk subsidiary Alexei Surganov. The bank came up with four business packages: Acquaintance, Development, Leader, and Partner. ‘All the packages cover such basic services as the opening and