Chelyabinsk Region held a nursery schools contest a little while ago. The first such event, initiated by Governor Petr Sumin, took place last year. This year, ten municipal schools and ten rural nursery schools have won, leaving behind the other twenty-five competitors (sports schools, biology clubs, art schools, and other educational facilities for both children and teenagers). All the schools employ innovational programs and can boast students who win regional, All-Russian, and international competitions on regular basis. The spokesperson for the Governor reports that twenty 250,000-ruble

Sverdlovsk Region Government considered an action plan on mortgage lending development in the region and decided to try and raise Sverdlovsk Mortgage Lending Agency’s authorized capital to 1 billion RUR by 2010. Documents to this extent should undergo final editing and will then be sent on to the Russian Federation Construction and Housing Maintenance and Utilities Agency.

The newly appointed head of Rostechnadzor (the state environmental and technological safety watchdog) Anatoly Sidyakin was allowed to retain his position of Yekaterinburg Municipal Duma Deputy. ‘The federal law does not say one cannot be a local government’s deputy and a civil servant at the same time,’ Yekaterinburg Municipal Duma’s press officer said to UrBC.

The Russian Federation President signed the bill that changed some of the points in the federal law on currency regulation and control: there are no limits on the amount of foreign currency close relatives can send to each other in the form of money orders any longer. According to SKB-Bank’s Commission-based Services Director Lyudmila Belyaeva, this is a reasonable and expected measure taken by the state in order to make such money orders more ‘liberal’. Prior to the bill, people could only send up to $5,000 abroad every day, and no money orders using foreign currency were legal in Russia.

Alexander Travka might be appointed head of the Ural division of the State Aviation Surveillance Agency. Mr. Travka is now employed in the capacity of deputy head and is probably getting the final approval in Moscow at the moment. He is thus going to succeed Anatoly Telegin, who retired on July 16, 2007.

Sberbank of Russia’s Ural branch handles more foreign currencies now: one can, for example, sell or buy RMB (Chinese yuans) or Japanese yens at the bank’s headquarters at 11 Moskovskaya St., Yekaterinburg. Yens are also dealt with in the bank’s offices at 1 Vainer St. and 4 Yasnaya St. Sberbank sells and buys Ukrainian hryvnias in eight of its Yekaterinburg-based offices located in different parts of the city (including the one at 11 Moskovskaya St.. 68 Lenin St., and 43 Chernyakhovskiy St.). ‘What is more, the number of offices dealing in Swiss francs, Canadian dollars, and Czech korunas has

Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Viktor Koksharov chaired a cabinet meeting devoted to the state of the region’s water power engineering; in the course of the meeting, Deputy Minister for Industry, Power Engineering, and Science Yuri Shevelev presented his report on how efficiently the region had been complying with Sverdlovsk Region Government’s provision as of August 18, 2004 regarding the area’s top-priority mini hydroelectric power stations. The Minister said their research indicated that putting up small-scale power generating facilities (with the capacity ranging from 100 kilowatts

Ural Airlines made its Yekaterinburg-Surgut-Yekaterinburg performed on Fridays cheaper, with the price of a single ticket coming to only 4,100 RUR (excluding the fuel fee). This means the company’s customers can now spend a weekend at home in Surgut at a much more appealing price, the carrier’s press officer reports. Another good thing about these Friday flights is that they are very convenient for transit passengers who go on holiday and change planes in Yekaterinburg. The special price offer is going to be available throughout the whole summer; however, the supply is limited. Ural Airlines

‘If the new fuel prices that Koltsovo airport is about to introduce get the approval of Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region, and if this increase in prices is not seen as a violation of any sort by the industry’s watchdogs, we’ll just have to operate somewhat differently,’ Ural Airlines’ Deputy General Director Alexei Fomin says. ‘Given the airport’s monopoly in the field of fuel supplies, their increased prices will lead to more expensive tickets. It’s hard to say at the moment just how this is going to be happening, since the situation on the market is another factor. We’ll

The law-enforcement agencies of Ural Federal District have recently disclosed large-scale tax frauds. Construction and Mounting 77, for instance, was found to be practicing tax evasion, which has already resulted in 23.25 million RUR worth of damage to the state. The company’s top executives have been charged with large-scale tax evasion; they will have to undergo a criminal suit and might get up to six years in prison.

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin invested 30 million RUR in repairing a municipal clinic in Chelyabinsk. The spokesperson for the Governor reports this money is to be spent on refurbishing the consulting rooms, the patients’ wards, and the halls in the selective and contaminated surgery departments as well as in the ophthalmologic and sterilization departments. The Governor last visited the clinic in April 2007’ this visit resulted in a number of administrative papers that facilitated the allocation of the finances needed for the repairs. In fact, the clinic has already received some

Only 18% of quotas on the number of foreign workers from countries whose citizens don’t need a visa to come to Russia (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Byelorussia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldavia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and the Ukraine) have been used by Russian employers so far, says Alexander Safonov, Labor Relations and Civil Service Director of the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development. ‘1,100 people got their work permits, whereas the upper limit amounts to 6 million for 2007. Most likely, 2.5 million permits will have been provided by the end of the year,’ Mr. Safonov announced at the

Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg is going to raise its fuel prices. ‘The prices on the oil market keep going up, so the airport just followed suit. This is why we sent a letter to Federal Antimonopoly Service informing them about the new price that will come to 18,460 RUR per ton beginning from August 1, 2007 (VAT excluded) At the moment, we offer our fuel for 17,810 RUR per ton,’ the airport’s press officer said to a UrBC reporter.

The spokesperson for the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region reports that head of Motor Road Administration in Sverdlovsk Region Vladimir Plishkin informed Governor Eduard Rossel about the need to repair at least 70% of the region’s highways. This means that out of 11,000 kilometers of roads, 8,000 kilometers fail to meet the standard requirements. ‘Every year, 1,226 kilometers of roads must be repaired, but only a mere 220 kilometers actually undergo construction. Then, a general overhaul must be given to a highway every decade; in reality, this only happens every 50 to 70 years. The main reason

Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution bodies are currently looking into how effectively Sverdlovsk Region Railways has been complying with the safety and vehicle maintenance regulations; the need for an investigation came about after a grave accident on July 10, 2007. The authorities have found numerous violations and deviations before: these were revealed in the course of an inspection in April 2007.

1,249,600 tons of pollutants were dumped in Sverdlovsk Region’s air from stationary sources last year, which exceeds the figures for 2005 by 6%. 9,931,500 tons of harmful emissions, or 88% of the total volume of pollutants, were trapped and neutralized, with the share of recycled pollutants coming to only 2,719,500 tons, or 27.4%, the Federal Statistics Agency reports. The emissions largely comprised solids (339,600 tons), sulfur dioxide (349,600 tons), nitrogen oxide (130,600 tons), carbon monoxide (302,400 tons), and carbohydrates (94,000 tons).

After the organization’s experts did a number of lab tests using samples of some foreign farmers’ produce, Rosselkhoznadzor (the state agricultural and veterinary watchdog) set temporary limits on the supply of foods from 78 foreign producers that used to violate Russian veterinary and sanitary norms when delivering these foods to the country, Rosselkhoznadzor’s press officer reports. As of July 10, 2007, the ban touched upon 35 EU-based companies and 19 Brazilian ones, 9 U.S. farms, 1 Uruguayan and 3 Chinese ones, a company from Chile, two places in Argentina, one Indian farm, two Ukrainian

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by AGROPROMBANK Credit to profit-making self-regulatory organizations for a term of 31 days to 90 days went down by 21.8% (from 350.436 million RUR to 273.724 million RUR) in January-June 2007.

‘Turkey and Egypt have been the tourists’ favorite holiday destinations for a few years now, and this summer is no exception. About a dozen planes leave for Turkey each week, and three planes go to Egypt,’ Director of Sputnik Travel Agency Marina Bondar said to UrBC. ‘The tour costs something like $1200 to $1400 per person, and most of Yekaterinburg dwellers are staying at four- and five-star hotels. This year, we’ve tried offering trips to Majorca, Crete, and Saloniki, but, even though the prices of traveling to either these places or Turkey and Egypt are pretty much the same, people still

‘Our regional insurers tend to merge and consolidate lately, partly because of increased and stricter demands imposed on an insurance company’s authorized capital. It is expected that about 20% of insurers based in Ural Federal District will disappear after a series of mergers. The greatest number of mergers will probably be recorded with medical insurers,’ head of Federal Insurance Authority in Ural Federal District Vladimir Ostrovskiy says. ‘A merger makes it possible for an insurance company to meet the requirements in terms of capital quality. Four companies have already left Sverdlovsk