Eight Chelyabinsk Region-based schools applied for a federal grant meant to support the best innovational project for elementary and vocational schools. Three of them were able to receive the grants, Chelyabinsk Region First Deputy Minister of Education and Science Tatiana Kalugina reports. 'This money will be spent on the implementation of the innovational projects only. All the spending technicalities will be strictly controlled by the state,’ she noted.

‘The Expert magazine has recently published lists of Russia’s major issuers compiled with the help of Cbonds.ru database. URSA Bank was rated 11th on Top Eurobond Issuers list and 18th on Top Corporate Bond Issuers list,’ the bank’s press officer reports. The ratings were based on data available on circulating bonds as of June 9, 2007.

Ural Airlines, one of Russia’s major air carriers, signed a memorandum on mutual understanding facilitating the acquisition of five new Airbus 320 planes from Airbus at the International Air Show in France. The $340-million deal is part of the carrier’s air fleet renovation program, Ural Airlines’ press officer reports. 'This is a big step for the company; we’ve already got two A-320 planes and have recently leased three more aircrafts: the first one is to arrive in December, the other two in the spring. Signing this acquisition agreement with Airbus is definitely our greatest

'Machine-building and equipment-making appear to do best in terms of production growth, as their output went up by 60.8% in January-May 2007 compared to a year earlier; chemical production growth reached 20.1%, that of timber industry came to 24.8%, that of metallurgical production went up by 11.3%,’ First Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Vladimir Molchanov said to UrBC. 'Metallurgical produce comes to about 50% of the gross regional product; I tend to think things will gradually be changing, yet metallurgy has been our core industry for three hundred years, which means

'We signed an agreement with Cushman&Wakefield Stiles&Riabokobylko, one of the world’s Top 4 professional consultants. The company is going to develop the concepts of Dirigible Mall and Parkoviy Trade Center - our two important projects. This will be our company’s contribution to making the Russian market more attractive to professional investors,’ Olips Deputy CEO Georgiy Korelin said to UrBC. Olips is also planning to take part in Expo Real fair in Munich this October. ‘Doing business with a company like Cushman&Wakefield Stiles&Riabokobylko enhances our ratings and

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by UralTransBank to profit-making self-regulatory organizations for 181 days to 1 year went down by 29% (from 308,000 RUR to 216,000 RUR) in January-May 2007.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to natural persons for 91 days to 180 days went down by 77% (from 4.983 million RUR to 1.113 million RUR) in January-May 2007.

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel presented his report on the region’s tax and budgetary policies in 2008-2010 at the Legislative Chamber meeting. Mr. Rossel said the region’s economy kept on improving in 2007, with the volume of industrial production increasing by almost 11% against a year earlier. Machine-building and equipment-making appear to do particularly well.

The Bank of Russia registered the report on the additional issue of uncertified registered shares by SKB-Bank. 'The issue comprises 351,145,000 uncertified registered shares with face value of 1 RUR (offering price 2.57 RUR per share). Upon the completion of the issue, SKB-Bank’s authorized capital reached 1,351,145,000 RUR, which is 35% better than before; this, as well as the growth of our own resources, is expected to ensure our further business expansion,’ the bank’s press officer reports.

Over 135 billion RUR will be invested in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Yekaterinburg in 2009, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel announced at a preparatory committee meeting. This year, for instance, 3.2 billion RUR will be allocated from various budgets. The preparatory committee’s proceedings were assisted by First Deputy Minister of Transport Alexander Misharin, President’s Administrator Vladimir Kozhin, Assistant to the President Sergey Prikhodko, Director of Russian Federation President Expert Department Arkadiy Dvorkovich, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin decided not to declare the town of Karabash insolvent and therefore subject to external management after he’d been presented with an emergency action plan prepared by Mayor of Karabash Mussa Dzugaev. The issue was brought about by the fact that the new legislation on self-government gives Mr. Sumin the right to declare failing municipalities insolvent and subject to external management. On the whole, the Governor was quite dissatisfied with the Mayor’s performance. ‘The town has been faced with a lot of difficulties in terms of the environment,

Federal Mortgage Lending Agency declared it was going to reduce mortgage interest rates on July 1, 2007; the lowest rate will now come to 10.75% a year. 'This reduction is part of the Affordable Housing project; provided the inflation rate drops as well, interest rates are expected to decrease even further. In fact, the lowest annual interest rate might amount to a modest 10% as soon as this year; I’d even say it’s not unlikely the rate might drop even lower. It’s true that a .25% decrease is not too much, yet what should be appreciated in this case is the very intention of the

On June 20, 2007, Kirovskiy Court of Yekaterinburg sentenced former heads of UralInvestEnergo Corporation Vadim Gubin and Pavel Podkorytov to 5.5 years in prison after they had been found guilty of large-scale fraud. The offenders will also have to pay a 74-million-ruble fine to make up for the damage they did, the spokesperson for Andrei Akhtyamov, the offenders’ opponent, reports.

'I am inclined to think that SverdlovEnergoSbyt is not empowered to prevent people with large unpaid electricity bills from going abroad,’ Deputy Director of Bosfor Travel Agency Alexei Petrov said to UrBC. 'It’s highly unlikely in the first place that someone might have a debt comparable to the cost of traveling to another country. I believe there are very few people in the entire country. Moreover, people who cannot afford to pay their housing bills due to dire financial circumstances normally cannot afford to go abroad either. In whichever case, even if the government agrees to

'The existing law states that any waste-producing legal entity must have a license entitling them to proper waste treatment and processing. In theoretical terms, even scrap paper or used teabags could be dangerous. There exists a certain classification of hazardous waste, ranging from category 1 to category 5. Hg-lamps, for example, fall into category 1, whereas wastes classed as belonging to category 5 are not supposed to be harmful to humans. However, the law does not make it very clear just what kinds of legal entities must be licensed, so it looks like all of them actually need to

Sverdlovsk Region’s Chief Officer of Justice and head of the regional division of the Federal Officers of Justice Service Alexander Popov was dismissed by Director of the Federal Officers of Justice Service N. Vinichenko. Former deputy head of the regional division of the Federal Officers of Justice Service Ivan Vygnanskiy was appointed acting head for the time being. Mr. Vygnanskiy is first-rank Councilor of Justice and has a number of state awards.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of profit-making self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in AGROPROMBANK valid for 91 days to 180 days went down 96% (from 6.56 million RUR to 200,000 RUR) in January-April 2007.

216 hotels have been registered in Sverdlovsk Region at the beginning of this year; 78.2% of those are proper hotels, 6.5% can be classed as furnished apartments, .9% fall in the boarding house category, and 13.9% are tourist dormitories or hostels, regional statisticians report. Nine hotels have been certified in compliance with the standards adopted in 1994: one hotel is a five-star one, two hotels are four-star ones, six hotels are three-star ones. The remaining 160 hotels, or 94.7%, are still non-starred. 92.1% of all the regional hotels are based in urban areas, 7.9% are located in the

Russian Standard Bank is reported to violate the rights of Sverdlovsk Region-based consumers. Last year, a lot of complaints were sent to the regional division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) regarding the bank’s draconian lending practices, so Rospotrebnadzor initiated an administrative investigation. According to Elena Bogacheva of Rospotrebnadzor in Sverdlovsk Region’s Consumer Rights Department, Russian Standard Bank’s offenses have been proved. Four administrative responsibility reports have been prepared regarding the bank’s failing to provide accurate

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of natural persons’ deposits and investments in Uralprivatbank valid for 181 days to 1 year went down 53% (from 143.522 million RUR to 67.394 million RUR) in January-April 2007.