UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 27, 2018. Tyumen Region is expected to start using new telecom solutions and enjoy a much speedier telecommunication sector development in the next five years, as MegaFon and Tyumen Region Government signed a cooperation agreement to launch IT and telecommunication technologies in the area’s various economic sectors, MegaFon’s press service reports. Governor of Tyumen Region Alexander Moor and MegaFon Ural’s Director Valeriy Velichko agreed to work together on a number of innovative projects and digital technologies, including certain components of the Smart City

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 27, 2018. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Plant (NTMK) completed the upgrades of the automation and remote control systems at Zavodskaya, one of its key railway stations, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s press service reports. Zavodskaya Station now runs on an up-to-date microprocessor/computer-based switches-and-signals interlocking system rather than the old relay-based one. The system manages the station’s forty-four switches and fifty-nine signals in an automated mode. Eighty-nine units within the axles count system control the availability of a particular

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 27, 2018. EVRAZ Holding’s West-Siberian Metal Plant (ZSMK) is working on a new power substation (estimated capacity: 252 MVA), the company press service reports. ‘The new power substation will be in charge of both the plant’s existing electric power needs and its future demand for more energy occasioned by the upcoming large-scale production development projects. The station is expected to require around RUB 1 billion in investments. The substation is meant to ensure uninterrupted and reliable power supply to our rolled goods department, our steam/air blower

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, December 27, 2018. ChelPipe Group’s Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant (ChelPipe) and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) both had their their environmental management systems audited for compliance with the international standard ISO 14001:2015, the Group’s press service reports. The two plants’ environmental management system proved efficient. ChelPipe got audited by the international certificating body SAI Global and PNTZ by TUV Rheinland. The certification authorities’ auditors were quite impressed with the Group’s environmental protection programs. For one, a large-scale

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 26, 2018. Ural Airlines’ Vladivostok-Sapporo flight got operated for the first time on December 21, 2018, the air carrier’s press service reports. ‘Passengers got treated to some Japanese chocolates at Knevichi Airport. Upon their arrival in Sapporo, they were also greeted with a warm welcome and souvenirs supplied by Ural Airlines and Hokkaido Prefecture. The greeting ceremony was attended by Hokkaido Land, Transport, & Infrastructure Ministry officials and representatives of Chitose Airport,’ the press service says. ‘We operated our first flight to Sapporo

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 26, 2018. Holders of the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s 120-day-grace-period credit cards have spent RUB 4.5 billion using these cards since the beginning of the year, the bank’s press service reports. ‘Women proved to be the more active card users and made 10.8 million transactions (amounting to RUB 2.5 billion all in all) throughout this year. Yet, even though men used their credit cards less often, they generally spent a greater amount of money per transaction,’ the press service says. According to the bank’s big data findings, the credit

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 26, 2018. Ural Airlines operated their first flight from Moscow Region’s Zhukovsky Airport to Kazakhstan’s capital Almaty and then the Almaty-Zhukovsky one on December 24, 2018. According to the air carrier’s press service, there were a number of special celebrations both on the way to Almaty and back. ‘Passengers flying to Kazakhstan’s largest city had a welcome ceremony and could have some tea and cake at the airport terminal; the first passenger to check in for the flight also received some souvenirs from the airport,’ the press service says. Zhukovsky-Almaty

UrBC, Moscow, December 26, 2018. There will be significantly fewer tour operators and travel agents on the Russian market next year as a result of the natural selection process that took off five years ago, Interfax refers to Russia’s Tour Operators Association’s (ATOR) Executive Director Maya Lomidze as stating. ‘The year 2019 will be the one of structural change. The number of key market players will decrease greatly, both in the tour operators’ segment and the travel agents’ one. The natural selection that began in 2014 will reach its peak next year and will change the market for good.

UrBC, Moscow, December 26, 2018. Sverdlovsk Region proved Russia’s No.5 federal constituency in terms of how many new credit cards got issued by local banks this year; the rating features forty Russian constituencies all in all. According to the National Credit History Bureau, Sverdlovsk Region-based banks issued 50.1% more credit cards in November 2018 than in November 2017 (more than 38,000 cards altogether). Moscow, Moscow Region, and Krasnoyarsk Territory are at the top of the rating; their increase in the number of newly issued cards reached 49.2%, 60.7%, and 30.7%, respectively.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 25, 2018. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Iron and Steel Works (NTMK) was declared Sverdlovsk Region’s Benefactor of The Year (in the ferrous metallurgy sector) this month. The nominations were part of the Charity Days events that Sverdlovsk Region’s industrial enterprises joined to present their benefactors’ reports for the year 2018. According to the company’s PR Department, EVRAZ NTMK supports thirty schools and kindergartens in Nizhniy Tagil, as well as a number of colleges. This year, a student design office opened in Ural Federal University’s Nizhniy Tagil

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, December 25, 2018. A new online job-hunting service opens in Magnitogorsk with support from Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), Magnitogorsk Council, and G.I. Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University. Rustatus.pro is a platform that aims to bring students, colleges, and enterprises closer together, MMK’s press service reports. The project is meant to help potential employees find the best working conditions and to help employers select the most competitive applicants. Every applicant will have a personal web page within the platform, with data updates ensured

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 25, 2018. ChelPipe’s Board of Directors adopted a customer-oriented, digital technologies-based business transformation program on December 19. The company intends to direct some RUB 1 billion to the program next year, the company press service reports. ‘A customer-oriented transformation is only logical at this stage of our corporate White-Coated Metallurgy philosophy’s development. The person, that is, our customer, our employee, a resident of the town or constituency where this company operates, is the focus of this philosophy. Given the increasingly fierce

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 25, 2018. Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems (FGC UES) is currently testing a new digital monitoring unit at its 110-kilowatt Olenya-Yamburg Main in Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous District; this section of the electric grid is in charge of power supply to the entire district, including Gazprom facilities in the area. The digital monitoring unit will be used to make reference measurements of the grid and main parameters, which is useful for making on-the-spot repair decisions. According to FGC UES Western Siberia’s PR & Media Group, the digital monitoring

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 25, 2018. Ural Airlines bought yet another Airbus A321 on a lease within the framework of the company’s fleet renovation program; the air carrier thus now operates forty-seven Airbus planes all in all. The aircraft, now known as VQ-BGX, used to get operated by a British airline. There are 220 Economy seats available on board. ’This new purchase is meant to be used on both international and domestic flights. The first scheduled flight this Airbus is going to make will be Yekaterinburg-Tbilisi one, the airline’s press service says. Ural Airlines and Airbus have

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 24, 2018. A passenger flying with Ural Airlines proved the 6,000,000th customer of Yekaterinburg’s Koltsovo Airport. Anastasia Shamshurina was flying from Yekaterinburg to Mineralnye Vody (flight U6 305), the air carrier’s press service reports. The solemn awarding ceremony took place at Koltsovo International Airport on December 21. Upon reaching Terminal A, Ms Shamshurina was greeted by the airport and the airline representatives and received a free flight voucher: this can be used to get to any location Ural Airlines fly to and to get access to Koltsovo

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 24, 2018. Russians living in the Mid-Urals still owed the government RUB 2.5 billion in unpaid property tax as of December 1, 2018, Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Russia’s Federal Tax Service reports. The deadline for property tax payments for the year 2017 was December 3, 2018. Any taxpayer who failed to pay on time turned into a debtor as soon as the next day, December 4, 2018, which means the overall debt amount will be growing on a daily basis due to fines, the division explains. It was reported earlier that over 5,000 locals with unpaid taxes wouldn’t be

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 24, 2018. EVRAZ Holding’s Raspadskaya Coal Company presented Miners’ Healthcare Center in Leninsk-Kuznetsky with a Mercedes-Benz critical care transport ambulance; the CCT unit is fitted with all the modern critical care diagnostics equipment and intensive care/first-aid appliances. ‘The new CCT unit has a defibrillator, an ECG unit, inhalation anaesthesia unit and an artificial lung ventilator. There’s an ultrasonic air filter and the patient and team furniture fixtures. Doctors can now examine their patients and carry out resuscitation procedures if necessary

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 24, 2018. Czech Airlines a.s. (ČSA) that used to operate Yekaterinburg-Prague flights are leaving Yekaterinburg’s Koltsovo Airport in January 2019, Head of the Russian Tourism Industry Union’s Ural division Mikhail Maltsev refers to the airport as officially declaring. ‘Czech Airlines will, in fact, no longer operate any flights to or from Yekaterinburg: Koltsovo Airport has been formally notified of the decision. This is extremely bad news for Yekaterinburg’s travel industry as well as for the city’s overall image. This can also have long-term consequences far

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 24, 2018. Ural Airlines are celebrating their new flight to Kazakhstan with a special offer on their Zhukovsky-Almaty-Zhukovsky flights. According to the air carrier’s press service, prices stat from RUB 8,305 (one way) and from RUB 17,271 (round trip) for Economy tickets. Prices are subject to change depending on the currency exchange rate. The flights will be available daily starting December 24, 2018. Starting January 15, the flights will get operated five times a week: on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Flight U6 2463 (Zhukovsky-Almaty),

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2018. An additional building for Kindergarten 119 opened with a solemn ceremony in Yekaterinburg’s District Akademicheskiy today. The new kindergarten extension will invite in more than three hundred children aged three to five as soon as January 9. The opening ceremony was attended by Vice Mayor of Yekaterinburg for Social Policy Dmitri Baranov, Head of Yekaterinburg Council’s Education Department Ekaterina Sibirtseva, Deputy Head of District Leninsky Council for Social Issues Elena Beruashvili, and a number of Yekaterinburg Duma deputies. According to Head