Production site of VIZ Steel JSC caught fire at 11.51 a. m. on August 23, 2006. According to the Department of Emergencies, this was caused by failing to follow the technological requirements of the production process, which resulted in a fire in the 30-meter-long air channel. The total fire area is estimated at 100 square meters; the accident was classified as 1-bis, that is, first-degree complexity. The fire was put out by 35 rescuers with the help of five tank trucks and a ladder. The extent of the damage is currently being ascertained.

As the spokesperson for Bank24.ru said to UrBC representative, Mr Kalinichenko will have to quit his membership in the bank’s Board of Directors in the nearest future, namely, after the extraordinary meeting of the Board. UTG (United FX — Traders Group), one of Russia’s largest bookmaking companies, founded and run by Mr Kalinichenko, was reported to be in a financial crises and unable to make dividend payments to its investors in mid-August. On August 18, 2006, the public prosecution authorities of Yekaterinburg started an investigation of Global Gaming Expo after its clients placed a

The development of electrical networks in Yekaterinburg seems inadequate to meet the growing demands of the rapidly expanding city. Some substations were actually quite overloaded last winter and, if the winter of 2006/2007 proves just as cold (the average of - 30 degrees centigrade), some dwellings, boiling houses, and other socially important buildings may have power cuts, reports the spokesperson for Yekaterinburg Electrical Network Company. One way of preventing these contingencies may be cutting down on electricity supplies to some enterprises for the harshest winter periods. The

TGK-9, territorial generating company, is going to spend 704 million RUR on repairs and 680 million on investment projects in its Yekaterinburg subsidiary in 2006. The company’s technicians and experts started getting ready for the coming winter as early as January 2006, by identifying the amount of work to be done and sources of financing. They have so far repaired six boilers, two turbines, and two generators; they have also replaced 2.2 kilometers of heat networks, and another 60 million RUR is to be spent on repairing the rest of them.

According to Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture Sergey Latskov, Srendeuralskiy Winery Ltd. (part of AVS-Group) still hasn’t got any response to its license application placed in July 2006.

Konstantin Strukov decided to quit his position as the General Director of Chelyabinsk Coal Company, he announced during a press-tour of Korkinskiy section. ‘I have achieved the goals I had to achieve, the company has been operating stably and the management is thinking of ways to develop it further,’ Mr Strukov said. Members of the company’s Board decided to appoint Mr Strukov Chairman and appoint former Technical Director Viktor Baron General Director yesterday.

The regional power engineering industry has bought 1 million tons less coal (a total of approximately 2.850 million tons) from Chelyabinsk Coal Company in 2006, the company’s Chairman Konstantin Strukov announced in the course of a press-tour of Korkinskiy section. According to the Chairman, they will have supplied 350,000 tons of coal by the end of August, yet they have no orders whatsoever for September. ‘This brings us in serious straits,’ Mr Strukov said.

Gold and foreign currency reserves of Russia as of August 18, 2006 amounted to $275bn, reported PR-department of Bank of Russia. On August 11, 2006, the gold and foreign currency reserves came to $277bn, which means they have gone down by $2bn within a week.

Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhny Tagil JSC (part of Evraz Group) is preparing to participate in the first UralMetalExpo industrial trade exhibition. The exhibition is to take place at the beginning of September at the State Show House of Nizhny Tagil. Among its participants are all major metallurgical companies of the Ural region. Evraz Group will be represented at the exhibition by its three Ural subsidiaries, namely, Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhny Tagil and Vysokogorsky and Kachkanarsky Ore Mining and Processing Plants. To date, these companies have set up working

Kalina JSC announced that that it had settled its suit concerning Nefis Cosmetics JSC out of court in today’s press release. The consent decree signed today states that the parties withdraw all the claims against each other and; it also declares that all the disputes concerning the use of one another’s trademarks should be seen as settled by the parties; the parties admit that they have no claims against each other, be they the ones mentioned in the decree or the ones currently processed by the courts of arbitration. ‘This dispute between Russia’s two largest household chemicals and beauty

Federal Financial Market Service of Russia in Ural Federal District recorded the issue of shares by Svyaznoy Ural JSC, a mobile phone trader, on July 31, 2006. The issue consists of 10,000 shares with face value of 50 RUR each. The state serial number is 2-01-32318-D; the shares are to be distributed among the company’s shareholders.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, the volume of deposits made by nongovernmental financial organizations in UralTransBank JSC for a term of 181 days to a year has gone down from 7.325m RUR to zero throughout January to July 2006.

Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil JSC, part of Evraz Group, has completed the basement of the new water-treatment complex. The builders have started erecting mounting bases and the building frame. The carcass work is being carried out at the moment. The builders have already received the first equipment lots and are going to assemble and install them in the nearest future. Energocascad Company of Moscow runs the construction of the water-treatment complex on the ‘turnkey’ terms. According to Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhny Tagil development plans, the construction

Facilities of Yekaterinburg Electrical Network Company JSC are in fact over-aged, reports the company’s spokesperson. According to the company representatives, reconstruction might be a solution to the problem, as well as putting some new facilities into service. So far, a number of the company’s substations have already been maximally loaded so that any excess load may bring about an emergency. At the same time, the other substations operate in the normal load mode. Therefore, no new users can be connected neither to Zapadnaya, Vesna or Metallist substations due to their heavy load, nor

Annual general meeting of Big-Diameter Pipes Plant JSC was held on August 22, 2006. The agenda included elections of the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman, of the sole executive authority (namely, of the company’s GD), and appointment of the Secretary of the Board of Directors. The meeting resulted in the following appointments: T. Khakhva — Chairman of the Board of Directors, P. Tatyatsin — Deputy Chairman and the company’s GD, V. Zotov — Secretary.

Over 1,600 young employees of Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil (part of Evraz Group) have been put on the corporate alternative manager candidate list. The project, known as Career, has been around for over two years now and provides for individual training of each employee who displays potential in order to prepare the company’s future managers of all levels, from directors of the company’s workshops to top managers. To be eligible for the project, one has to be under forty and have the education needed for the would-be job. The Complex offers a range of professional

Ural Airlines will have spent 11.927 million RUR on employee training by the end of 2006. The money is largely spent on English language classes, training the pilots, the flight attendants, and the engineers and technicians who will be using the new kind of aircraft.

Electrometallurgical Complex of Chelyabinsk assessed the results of its activity in the first half of 2006. The company produced 364,700 tons of ferroalloys and over 18,500 tons of electrodes. It made more than 7.5 billion RUR in terms of sales revenues, with net profit amounting to 300 million RUR.

‘The introduction of Auchan hypermarket will definitely result in some customer outflow for us, especially at the very beginning. However, we do not expect it to be massive,’ General Director of Uniland-Yekaterinburg CJSC Valery Bubnov said to UrBC representative. ‘This French company has been threatening us with the possible dumping of prices, but in my opinion, this is not going to happen as they can possibly display no more than 50 items at promotional prices,’ indicated Mr Bubnov. According to Mr Bubnov, customers of such hypermarkets as Metro and Auchan are mainly private retail buyers.

On August 21, 2006, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel met Thomas Pritzker, Chairman and CEO of Global Hyatt Corporation. Global Hyatt international hotel system has for while been working towards the opening of its hotel in the new Yekaterinburg-City business quarter of the regional capital. The hotel buildings are being constructed by a French building firm in cooperation with Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company. The hotel will probably start welcoming visitors in 2007. In the course of the meeting, Mr Rossel spoke about Koltsovo Airport as the center of Russian and international