Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin celebrated the Railroader’s Day by presenting the regional population with a new electric train in the course of meeting the new head of South Ural Railways Vladimir Moldaver on July 27, 2007. The spokesperson for the Governor reports this was the second time Mr. Sumin and Mr. Moldaver met. Mr. Moldaver spoke on the daily performance of the railway workers and said that South Ural Railways and Chelyabinsk Region Government enjoyed a mutually beneficial partnership. The regional government allocated some money to buy an electric train as early as 2003;

Accumulation of industrial and consumption wastes in Sverdlovsk Region has been one of the region’s major environmental hazards for a while now; at the same time, some programs that could help solve these man-caused problems are being hindered by a number of unresolved issues. Firstly, it is still not clear how to recycle the bulky wastes left over from the metallurgical production (such as red mud and some others), waste supplied by hydrolysis production (such as lignine), heat-and-power engineering, mining industry, and organic waste produced by regional farmers. Secondly, there is an issue

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of natural persons’ deposits in Tagilbank valid for up to 30 days went down by 32% (from 2.254 million RUR to 1.535 million RUR) in January-June 2007

Sverdlovsk Region’s industrial production index in the first half of 2007 exceeded that for January-June 2006 by 8%, regional statisticians report. The volume of goods, jobs, and services related to mining industry in January-June 2007 rose by 1.4 times in current prices compared with a year earlier; that of goods produced by manufacturing industries went up by 1.3 times, that of goods and services related to production and distribution of electricity, gas, and water increased by 1.2 times. The production volume of PVC elastron went up by 69.2%, that of windowpanes by 65.1%, that of linoleum

Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Viktor Koksharov reports that the agricultural production output only grew by 1.5% in the first half of 2007, which couldn’t be seen as really great. According to Mr. Koksharov, offering loans to farmers could also be faster as well as be done on a larger scale. He also suggested that Sverdlovsk Region Ministry of Agriculture and Food should reconsider its managerial practices. These issues were discussed in the course of a meeting devoted to assessment of the implementation of top priority national projects and demographic policies.

The regional division of Rostechnadzor (the state environmental watchdog) inspected the premises of Russian Chrome 1915, revealing 14 environmental offenses. This resulted in 17 orders describing steps that had to be taken, with strict deadlines. One problem was that the company never had its hazardous waste certificates approved of by Rostechnadzor. Then, it turned out that the used Hg-lamps were not stored safely, and a twenty-liter vessel with the waste oil was simply put into the industrial waste container, Rostechnadzor’s press officer reports. Some of the company’s sites were

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of non-resident legal entities’ deposits in METCOMBANK valid for 91 to 180 days went down by 100% (from 100 million RUR to zero) in January-June 2007.

Ural Turbine Plant (part of RENOVA Group) keeps trying to switch to computer-aided engineering. Their experts report that using a new computer-aided design system is estimated to double the productivity of the company’s designers, which means the production output will also double in 2008. ‘The new system was first introduced in the steam turbine design office and proved to allow a company to reduce the prime cost of its produce, since, for example, computer-aided design of turbine casing makes it possible to reduce the weight of the thing, minimize the possible casting defects, and reduce

Ural Airlines reports that starting July 26, 2007 members of the Wings Club (the carrier’s frequent flyer program) will be offered a 50% bonus when booking online. ‘The new offer gives our customers a chance to top up their personal account faster and thus be able to use their bonus ticket sooner. What is more, booking online means you can choose the flight and tariff that works best for you and you don’t have to pay the fuel fee, which makes air travel much less costly,’ the carrier’s press release states. This special bonus offer will be valid through the end of the year; for further

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by GRAN Bank to sole traders for 91 to 180 days went down by 100% (from 20 million RUR to zero) in January-June 2007.

‘The sales of Russkiy Newsweek were 20% higher on May 18, 2007 (the day Russkiy Reporter started to sell) than they are now. As soon as Russkiy Reporter’s second issue was available in stores, regional sales of Russkiy Newsweek dropped by 5%, and after the third issue was published and up to the present moment its sales have been below the level they had prior to Russkiy Reporter seeing the light,’ Margarita Ufimtseva of Gazety v Roznitsu Ltd. said to UrBC. Russkiy Reporter’s first issue came out in Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don, and Samara on May 17, 2007, accompanied by

‘The growing crop prices must have been brought about by the increased global demand. The U.S. and Brazil, for instance, are now working on some new alcohol-based fuel, and alcohol is normally derived from crops. Then, it takes more money than before to buy fuel and deliver the goods to the customer, so this influences the price of the end product as well,’ Vice Mayor of Yekaterinburg Viktor Konteev announced at a press conference on July 25, 2007. ‘The Soviet farmers used to collect 45 million tons of crops a year, on average, whereas the Russian ones collected 78 million tons of crops last

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by AGROPROMBANK Credit to natural persons for 91 to 180 days went down by 24% (from 3.504 million RUR to 2.682 RUR) in January-June 2007.

The interactive timetable used in Koltsovo airport read that Aviaprad had to put off its Yekaterinburg-Sochi flight by six hours on July 25, 2007. The airport provided the company with a slot for 8.35 AM, but the passengers were not likely to have left Yekaterinburg any earlier than 3 PM.

Evrazruda (Russian ore maker and part of Evraz Group) is going to give a 30-day overhaul to its load transfer gentry crane No. 4 that is normally used for unloading ore, limestone, and fuel. The overhaul is targeted at making sure the ore-blending plant can operate stably and properly, which, in its turn, is believed to improve the performance of Abagurskiy sintering plant’s processing shop. All this helps the company achieve its target annual production figures successfully, the spokesperson for Evrazruda reports. The crane and all the accompanying equipment are now being thoroughly

Central Bank of Russia reports the volume of non-resident natural persons’ deposits in UralPrivatBank valid for 181 days to 1 year went down by 100% (from 1.913 million RUR to zero) in January-June 2007.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of natural persons’ demand deposits in Sverdlovsk Gubersnkiy Bank went down by 29% (from 60.979 million RUR to 43.599 million RUR) in January-June 2007.

The number of people who had some accidents on the premises of mining enterprises based in Ural Federal District in the first half of 2007 falls short of that for January-June 2006 by 30.8% (there were 72 victims compared with 104 a year earlier). Most accidents (56 instances altogether) occurred in Sverdlovsk Region, the spokesperson for the regional division of Rostechnadzor (the state environmental and technological safety watchdog) reports. There were 13 grave accidents liable to special investigations, including seven cases that took place underground, five cases related to open cast

Sverdlovsk Region Court announced that their first hearing regarding the case of Pavel Fedulev would take place at 10 AM on August 6, 2007. The proceedings are expected to be public. Mr. Fedulev is accused of attempted fraud, falsification of evidence, forgery, and mass riots (Articles 30 (part 1), 159 (part 4), 33 (part 3), 303 (part 3), 327 (part 2), and 212 (part 1) of Russian Criminal Code). His accomplice A. Naimushin is charged with attempted fraud and mass riots (Articles 30 (part 1), 159 (part 4), and 212 (part 1) of Russian Criminal Code).

Sverdlovsk Region division of Rosselkhoznadzor (the state agricultural watchdog) prevented attempted smuggling of 90 tons of meat products to Russia. Rosselkhoznadzor’s press officer reports that, judging by the barcode, this meat was produced in China, Brazil, the U.S., and Argentina. As a matter of fact, Chinese produce cannot be imported to Russia legally after Rosselkhoznadzor put some bans on it. As for the meat from Brazil, the U.S., and Argentina, it can only be imported to this country if it was produced by certain farms inspected and approved of by Rosselkhoznadzor. The companies