The officers of Ural Customs Administration confiscated bottles of pirated Hugo Boss perfume offered for sale in a Salekhard-based mall last weekend. The owner of the produce failed to produce any agreement with the right holder’s representative, which violates the intellectual property protection law. The perfume, worth about 35,000 RUR, was withdrawn and stocked at a warehouse; the seller will now have to undergo a lawsuit regarding abuse of a registered trademark.

‘The limitations regarding the number of foreign workers on retail markets only refer to people without a stay or residence permit. There are, however, no limitations regarding foreign workers in malls and shops. Moreover, workers from the countries of the CIS are allowed to get a work permit in the new field without leaving Russia,’ Immigration Control Director of Federal Migration Service in Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Biryukov announced at a press conference devoted to the new federal law on retail markets. ‘The new law mainly affects foreign workers from far-abroad, since the work permit

According to the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region Governor, Eduard Rossel appointed former regional Minister for Natural Resources Alexander Yastrebkov director of a therapeutic medical facility under Sverdlovsk Region Government. It was also decided that he would be succeeded by Konstantin Kryuchkov. Konstantin V. Kryuchkov was born in Ohrenburg Region in 1961. He graduated from Ural Forestry Engineering Institute, worked as a forest warden for some time and gradually moved on to top executive positions in the natural resources management field. He was the head of the Main Forestry

A conference devoted to the new federal law on retail markets took place in Yekaterinburg on April 2, 2007. ‘It will be easier for us to monitor the municipal markets due to the general market location plan and detailed product-based plans for each market. All the management companies have been registered by now, so they will get their licenses in June 2007. We have already conducted a number of inspections, and we’ll see to it that there are more of them in the future. Each inspection, however, must be well planned. We need not only to punish but also to explain the mistakes and how to avoid

In addition to its ATM network all over Yekaterinburg, SKB-Bank set up new ATMs in its Central office at 29a Mira St., at a store located at 94 Shchorsa St., and it its office at 2 Chelyuskintsy St. ‘Our ATMs can be found in public and educational establishments, stores, malls, and office buildings, that is, in places where the card service is needed most. We have 72 ATMs in Yekaterinburg altogether, and I’m positive there will soon be more. In fact, the bank is expected to hit the three digit level by the end of the year,’ says the bank’s Bank Card Director Evgeniy Belichenko. All of

MegaFon Ural CEO Denis Malyshev is going to answer customers’ queries over the phone between 3 PM and 4 PM on April 3, 2007. The number is 8-922-100-00-00, and one can ask any questions related to the mobile operator’s performance and communication services, such as how to reduce mobile communication expenses, why it would not be reasonable to give your SIM card to anyone else, what new technologies the company is about to introduce, and how to run a huge business successfully. The call will be free for MegaFon Ural subscribers; they can also use a landline number 8 (343) 379-27-71 or e-mail

The officers of Ural Customs Administration confiscated bottles of pirated Hugo Boss perfume offered for sale in a Salekhard-based mall last weekend. The owner of the produce failed to produce any agreement with the right holder’s representative, which violates the intellectual property protection law. The perfume, worth about 35,000 RUR, was withdrawn and stocked at a warehouse; the seller will now have to undergo a lawsuit regarding abuse of a registered trademark.

According to Continent Siberia newspaper, URSA Bank was Siberia’s second largest bank in terms of net wealth (85,365 million RUR), outstripped only by Siberian Bank of Sberbank of Russia. The bank is on the most impressive Siberian banks list in terms of capital, profits, investments by businesses and natural persons, and loan portfolios as well.

According to RosBusinessConsulting, Bank 24.ru rose from the 262 th to the 224th position in the All-Russian bank rating based on net wealth indices last year. The bank’s net wealth went up 180% in 2006. ‘Since we managed to double our capital last year, the company moved up 130 positions in the Top 1000 rating based on banks’ own capital. We also hit the 191 th position in terms of loans to legal entities; the bank gave its clients 733.5 million RUR worth of loans in 2006,’ reports the spokesperson for Bank24.ru.

Mayor of Yekaterinburg Arkadiy Chernetskiy met RENOVA Stroy Group executives to discuss the construction of the would-be Academic district of the city. The Mayor says the meeting was mainly devoted to land allotments distribution; RENOVA Stroy Group is going to put up buildings in one part of the district beginning as early as this summer, the city council will be responsible for using the other part. This new district is to appear in the south-west of Yekaterinburg and is expected to occupy 2,500 hectares of land, with 1,200 hectares covered by forests and parks and 1,300 hectares used for

The average existing home prices (per square meter of dwelling) in the center of Yekaterinburg (i.e. in Moskovskaya St., Chelyuskintsy St., Vostochnaya St., Dekabristy St., Belinskiy St., and Bolshakov St.) went up 2.01% on March 27, 2007, compared with February 27, 2006, reports the Analytical Department of the Ural Chamber of Real Estate. The figure rose by 0.90% in Yekaterinburg’s most expensive residential area (Avtovokzal, Yugo-Zapadniy, Parkoviy, Botanicheskiy, Vtuzgorodok, Shartashskiy, ZhBI – downtown and the south-west and the south-east of the city), by 0.71% in the city’s second

‘Auchan supermarkets with area of 10,000 to 15,000 square meters will be set up in seven districts of Yekaterinburg,’ says Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel. ‘The region has already agreed with the company’s management on this number of stores, with more supermarkets to be introduced in other large towns such as Serov, Krasnoturinsk, and Nizhniy Tagil,’ the Governor observed.

On March 29, 2007 Federal Antimonopoly Service in the Republic of Udmurtia decided, upon considering two reports on administrative violations by Euroset Nizhniy Novgorod Ltd., to impose on the company two fines worth 500,000 RUR each for inappropriate outdoor advertising in the city of Izhevsk. Euroset apparently used billboards with some obscene slogans, which backfired immediately: the city council and one local citizen placed their complaints with the Federal Antimonopoly Service. Euroset’s advertising campaign was seen by the Service as a grave violation of the Russian Federation

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel announced at a press conference that he had accepted the resignation of the region’s Minister for Natural Resources Alexander Yastrebkov ‘Russian law prevents anyone over 65 from keeping this position, and this is the main reason why Mr. Yastrebkov has had to resign. I have, however, made a nice proposal regarding preparations for the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit that might interest him,’ the Governor said.

Chairman of Russian Trade Union of Railway and Transport Workers Nikolai Nikiforov came on a two-day visit to Sverdlovsk Region Railways on March 30, 2007. According to the company’s press officer, Mr. Nikiforov is to meet a number of workers and members of the trade union as well as examine the premises of the company’s various departments, security service, and socially important facilities. Mr. Nikiforov is also expected to take part in the workers’ conference held in the headquarters of Sverdlovsk Region Railways in Yekaterinburg. The agenda of the conference includes new paying schemes,

The investigation conducted by Yekaterinburg division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) revealed some grave sanitary violations in the way the food was made and served in the school canteens. The most common violations include not storing the foods properly, offering food that is no longer fresh (31%), negligent cleaning of dishes and utensils (29%), and deviations from the two-week menu and assortment of foods recommended by Rospotrebnadzor. Lab tests showed that 1.8% of dishes were not safe enough to eat. Rospotrebnadzor imposed 81 fines worth 47,700 RUR on the schools

According to the Central Bank of Russia, the volume of loans given by GRAN Commercial Bank to profit-making NGOs despite overdraft went down 25.7% (from 168,081,000 RUR to 124,927,000 RUR) in May-December 2006.

MegaFon now offers GPRS roaming through Vodafone Albania Sh.A., which makes it Russia’s first mobile operator to offer its clients GPRS services all over Europe. MegaFon supports GPRS roaming through 145 operators based in 88 countries and providing communication services to 94 countries.

Metallurgical Plant of Nizhnyaya Salda (part of Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil and of Evraz Group) is restoring the city’s only ski stadium. The stadium has remained unused for six years, despite being located next to a city block and a number of educational establishments. A lot of city dwellers, including 1,500 schoolchildren, sport-practicing adolescents, and vocational school students, used to visit the stadium regularly, so the Veteran Council of Metallurgical Plant of Nizhnyaya Salda and the company’s employees decided to restore the site in January 2007, reports the

The Russian Federation Government prohibited selling audio CDs, sound tracks, databases, or software in the open air – that is, from street stalls or tents through changes in the Goods Selling Regulations adopted on March 30, 2007, reports the Government’s press officer. Moreover, sellers must now provide their customers not only with data as to the producer’s name and address, license number, and the product’s technical characteristics, but also with information on the copyright holder and the software registration number (in case the CD contains computer programs) if this software has been