UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 5, 2019. EVRAZ Holding’s Raspadskaya Coal Company handed a tanker truck over to Mezhdurechensk Council rent-free as part of its CSR program. The truck will be used for drinking water delivery. According to the company’s press service, Raspadskaya Coal Company’s Deputy Tech Director Alexander Markov presented the truck keys to the town council’s First Deputy Head for Industry & Construction Sergey Perepilishchenko. ‘The new tanker truck costs more than RUB 3.5m. The vehicle was made in Russia and is suitable for all kinds of roads and any kind of weather

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 5, 2019. Ural Electromechanical Plant (UEMZ) and Rosatom Corporation’s Rusatom Automated Control Systems (RASU) are going to sign a contract for the delivery of components for the diverse protection system at Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant 2’s Power-Generating Unit 2 this February, UEMZ’s press service reports. The contract amounts to RUB 21.6 million all in all and has to be completed by June 24, 2019. ‘Processing an order that is this responsible in the amount of time that is this short (before the end of QII’19) means both extra workload for our production

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 5, 2019. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) raised the interest rates on both ruble and dollar savings deposits on February 1, the bank’s press service reports. The interest rate on Dokhodny Deposit is now 0.35% to 0.45% higher for the ruble options (depending on how long the money has been sitting in the deposit) and 0.1% higher for the dollar options on Days 1-90. Nakopiltelny Online Deposit (390 days/USD) now yields the annual interest rate that is 0.2% higher than before. Dokhodny and Nakopiltelny are among the UBRD’s most popular

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 5, 2019. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Metallurgical Plant (NTMK) received three awards for its efforts in the civil defense, emergency prevention, and fire safety sector, EVRAZ Holding Ural reports. The plant got awarded Russia’s Ministry of Emergencies’ Sverdlovsk Region division’s special certificate for the Best Training/Resource Base. The Nizhniy Tagil-based plant received the award for maintaining its protection facilities, employee training, and overall civil defense and emergency prevention work. ‘EVRAZ NTMK focuses very closely on emergency prevention

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 5, 2019. 467 counterfeit banknotes imitating the Bank of Russia’s currency units got detected within Sverdlovsk Region’s banking sector last year. This was 42% less than one year previously, when 812 fake currency units got detected, the Bank of Russia’s Ural division’s PR Department reports. The most frequently forged banknotes were 5,000-ruble ones: 339 such bills were found in 2018, which amounted to 73% of all the forged bills. Added to this were 88 1,000-ruble fakes (four times less than in 2017) and 3 2,000-ruble ones (very poorly and obviously forged).

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, February 4, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) provided five studio apartments to accommodate the young doctors from the plant’s Central Polyclinic 1, MMK’s Information, PR & Advertising Department reports. ‘The plant’s management is making efforts to relieve the medical staff shortage, which is the Russian healthcare sector’s most pressing problem these days. For one, we offer studio apartments to the young doctors from our clinic, who can live in their new homes rent-free. After ten years in the company’s employment, they will come to own their places.

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, February 4, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) was founded eighty-seven years ago this month (February 1, 2019). This is now one of both Russia and the world’s largest metallurgical enterprises. According to the company’s Information & PR Department, MMK considers February 1, 1932 its official opening date. One year later, in 1933, the open-hearth furnace facility complemented the original blast furnace division, so the plant started producing steel. In August 1934, Magnitogorsk’s first Section Mill 500 got launched as well. MMK made armor steel and armor

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 4, 2019. Sverdlovsk Region’s residents’ notional incomes amounted to RUB 1,856 billion in January-December 2018 (RUB 35,758.4 per capita a month), Sverdlovskstat reports. One year earlier, this figure reached RUB 1,832.4 billion, including the one-time pensioner allowance (RUB 5,000 per capita/RUB 6.8 billion altogether). People’s actual disposable incomes (incomes minus mandatory payments adjusted against the consumer price index) declined by 2.7% in January-December 2018 compared with January-December 2017 (the calculations were made without the adjustments for

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 4, 2019. EVRAZ Holding’s Kachkanar Ore Mining and Processing Plant (KGOK) launched its new NP1 locomotive and two motor-operated dump cars this month; the equipment was made at Novocherkassk Plant. According to EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Center, NP 1 locomotives are specifically suited for deep, complicated mines. This particular traction unit (tractive power: 1,000,000+ kg; speed: up to 65 km/h; operational safety: four braking systems) was designed specially for EVRAZ KGOK. ‘NP1 units are very comfortable to operate: the operator’s pit is made to

UrBC, Moscow, February 4, 2019. 84,257 Toyota and Lexus units (Hilux, Auris, Corolla and ES350, GX 460, IS250, IS250C, and IS-F, respectively), are being called off the Russian market through Toyota/Lexus’s authorized representative for Russia OOO Toyota Motor. According to Rosstandart, the company recalls the automobiles sold between February 28, 2011 and June 27, 2018 due to driver and passenger front airbag module issues: the airbags might get improperly activated under certain circumstances. OOO Toyota Motor’s representatives are going to inform all the owners of the cars in question; the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 1, 2019. MegaFon now offers better mobile connection quality on Russian roads, the company’s press service reports. ‘MegaFon Ural’s customers are now spending more time on the road. The number of Russians who traveled around the country at least once this January was 33% higher than in January 2017. As many as 458 MegaFon SIM card users went on long-distance trips every hour last month,’ the press service says. MegaFon’s mobile connection is now available on 95.4% of thirty-two key highways (total length: almost 30,000 km). This was the best coverage performance

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 1, 2019. The price of diesel fuel rose from RUB 46.58 to RUB 46.92 per liter on Sverdlovsk Region market between January 21 and January 27; the price of liquefied natural gas rose from RUB 21.26 to RUB 21.28 per liter, Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service reports. Also, the price of gasoline (AI 92 (93)) dropped by RUB 0.11, down to RUB 41.21 per liter on average. The price of AI 95 declined from RUB 44.23 down to RUB 44.08 per liter on average (- RUB 0.15).

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 1, 2019. 29,809 automobiles got sold on credit in Sverdlovsk Region last year, which exceeded the figures for one year earlier by 21.7%, the National Credit History Bureau reports. 52,581 cars got sold on Sverdlovsk Region market last year all in all, with the share of the ones bought on credit at 56.7%. ‘In 2018, the car loan market recovered to the state of affairs as of 2014. Even though certain state-subsidized lending programs got discontinued, car loans remain a noticeable supporting factor for the car making industry. Car loans on used automobiles are

UrBC, Moscow, February 1, 2019. The Bank of Russia purchased RUB 15.71 billion worth of foreign currency for the Finance Ministry on the home market, the bank’s website indicates. According to plan, the bank will spend RUB 265.8 billion on foreign currency purchases between January 15 and February 6 altogether, with the daily purchase amount at RUB 15.6 billion. The purchases are being made in order to offset the additional oil and gas revenues and add more reserves to the Russian National Wealth Fund.

UrBC, Moscow, February 1, 2019. The Russian Government adopted an anti-bribe literacy course for schools as part of this year’s National Anti-Bribe Plan. The course program is available on the legal information portal starting January 31. The full program concept is to be designed by the Education & Science Ministry and the Ministry of Enlightenment in the second quarter of 2019. They will also have to come up with a list of films educating the public about the perils of bribe-giving and bribe-taking; the list will get uploaded onto the Russian Electronic School Portal. Additionally, the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 31, 2019. EVRAZ Holding is currently working on an investment project to develop Coal Bed 29a of its Yesaulskaya Mine (estimated reserves: more than 10,000,000,000 kg of valuable GZh coking coal). The company intends to start developing the coal bed in the first quarter of 2020, which will require over RUB 1.5bn in investments, EVRAZ Holding’s Raspadskaya Coal Company reports. ‘Four stoping teams are now busy preparing Coalface 29-37 (total distance: 11.5 km). The miners are using a new set of equipment, including Russian-made combines and self-propelled

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, January 31, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) is currently coordinating an online auction to find a contractor for a layout and design and project documentation on a museum/educational facility/park/sports facility in Magnitogorsk, MMK’s Information & PR Department reports. The auction is part of the company’s large-scale, multi-purpose urban development program (aka Prityazheniye) in the city’s south-western locations. The site for the would-be multifunctional park in Magnitogorsk belongs to MMK and is 357.3 hectares large. The plant has the town

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 31, 2019. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Metallurgical Plant (NTMK) launched its Heavy Mill Department sixty years ago this month. The plant’s Managing Director Alexei Kushnarev congratulated the department’s best workers and long-service employees on the special date. According to EVRAZ Holding Ural’s PR Department, work on the would-be heavy mill department began in 1957 as the nationwide Youth Communist League construction project. The very first product, a round shape (diameter: 90 mm) got made at the department as soon as January 25, 1959. EVRAZ NTMK’s Heavy

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 31, 2019. The number of appeal claims placed by Sverdlovsk Region’s locals against insurance companies rose by 35% in 2018 compared with the year 2017, Sverdlovsk Region Court’s press service reports. ‘The number of suits to do with personal and property insurance was noticeably on the increase: 1,235 cases got processed in 2017 and as many as 1,670 in 2018 (+35%),’ the press service says. Sverdlovsk Region Court looked into 19,923 civil lawsuits within the appeals procedures last year. The number of lawsuits to do with loan and housing disagreements also went up

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 31, 2019. Ural companies have sent their customers more than eighteen million ‘smart’ texts with MegaFon.Target over the last two years, MegaFon’s press service reports. ‘According to Deloitte’s recent survey findings, text messages are now 39% less popular in Russia. The Urals’ business community, however, goes against the national trend in that local companies keep sending increasingly more texts through targeted messaging services. The number of local businesses that started using smart text messaging increased by 1.5 times in the last twelve months,’ the press