UrBC, Moscow, September 21, 2018. MegaFon and MTS will no longer charge their customers for transferring money between their respective mobile number accounts. All you need in order to transfer money from an MTS number to a MegaFon one (or vice versa) is to have the number itself; moreover, the money received in your mobile number account can get spent either on telecommunication services or on anything else, MegaFon’s press service reports. ‘It happens quite often that when someone wants to transfer a bit of money they need to find out what bank the other person is using, enter lengthy

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 21, 2018. Russia’s Communications Ministry suggested that all the computers that get imported to Russia should have Russian anti-virus software preinstalled on them beginning from August 1, 2020, Kommesant reports. The proposal is laid out in the government’s Digital Economy National Project. The ministry explains the initiative has to do with ‘national security issues’. ‘The WTO regulations allow a country to go through with similar measures for reasons of national security. Moreover, these steps can be taken regardless of where the PC comes from, and can also

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 21, 2018. A consumer loan issued in Sverdlovsk Region rose from RUR 162,015 to RUR 193,969 on average (in terms of loan amount) between January and August 2018 compared with January-August 2017; the increase thus stands at 19.7%, the National Credit History Bureau reports. The increase in the average loan amount brings Sverdlovsk Region to No.35 in the national rating involving forty different constituencies. In Russia on the whole, the average loan amount increased by 29.7%, from RUR 136,600 to RUR 177,100.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 21, 2018. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) is offering its private customers a special increased interest-rate deposit starting September 20; the maximum interest you can get on this deposit type is 7.7% a year, the bank’s press service reports. ‘This is a present the bank is making its customers on its birthday, September 28; incidentally, the bank will turn twenty-eight this year,’ the press service says. The minimum amount of money you can deposit is RUR 10,000. The interest rate comes to 6% to 7.7% a year, depending on how long the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 20, 2018. Ural Airlines will start operating flights from Russia’s Far East to Japan for the first season this coming winter: the new Vladivostok-Sapporo (Hokkaido’s largest city)-Vladivostok flight will be available starting December 4, 2018, the air carrier’s press service reports. The new flights will be operated every Tuesday and Friday. U6 747 (Vladivostok-Sapporo): departure: 11:45 AM; arrival: 12:50 PM every Tuesday (duration: 2 hours and 5 minutes); U6 747 (Vladivostok-Sapporo): departure: 6:45 PM; arrival: 7:50 PM every Friday (duration: 2 hours and 5

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 20, 2018. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) scored very high in Markswebb’s rating of the most small business-friendly banks in the third quarter of 2018, the bank’s press service reports. The UBRD offers free-of-charge administration of account for self-employed freelance workers, which secured the bank No.1 position in the rating of best payment plans alongside Sberbank and Vesta Bank. The option is available through a special payment plan where the self-employed customers only have to pay for the actual transactions they make, with no

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, September 20, 2018. Experts from MMK Group’s Metallurg Charity Foundation took part in Together for Children! Ten Years Together All-Russian Forum/Exhibition, MMK’s press service reports. The event took place in Chelyabinsk and got coordinated by Moscow-based Children Support Foundation and Chelyabinsk Region Government. The forum was attended by members of the Federation Council, local ministries’ officials, State Duma deputies, and more than seven hundred Russian experts on children and family issues from fifty-seven parts of Russia. Metallurg shared its children and

UrBC, Moscow, September 20, 2018. The Russian banks had 62% more foreign currency banknotes imported into the country in July 2018 compared with one month earlier, Prime refers to Vestnik Banka Rossiyi’s updates as indicating. ‘The authorized banks had $3bn worth of foreign currency bills imported in Russia in July 2018, which exceeded the figures for June 2018 by 62%. The amount of foreign currency bills taken by the authorized banks out of the country rose by 84% in July 2018 compared with June 2018 and came to $1.2bn,’ the updates state. The U.S. Congress put forth an anti-Russian

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 20, 2018. Over two hundred streets in sixty-five different towns in the Urals can now enjoy a more stable mobile signal and faster Internet connection thanks to MegaFon Ural’s engineers doing large-scale tech repairs and upgrades in the summer, which resulted in considerably improvement in quality, the company press service reports. The repairs and improvements covered the towns with total population of over nine million people. The company engineers set up new communication infrastructure in conurbations, larger cities, villages, Yugra’s oil deposit locations,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 19, 2018. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s business customers can now top up their company account balance using Alfa-Bank’s ATMs for the same price they pay at UBRD, the bank’s press service reports. The two banks’ recent agreement means putting money into the company account is now even easier for the business owners, since as many as 3,000 new ATMs are now at their disposal. To use this option, a universal card with both cash-in and corporate account spending functions needs to be issued. Alfa-Bank charges UBRD customers exactly the same

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 19, 2018. Starting October 29, 2018, Ural Airlines will be operating direct scheduled flights from Anapa to Yerevan (Armenia) and Osh (Kyrgyzstan). These will be non-stop flights operated on the comfortable Airbus liners. Flight U6 2497 (Anapa-Yerevan) will be available every Monday and Thursday (departure: 2:40 PM; arrival: 5:10 PM). Prices start from RUR 3,241 for Promo tickets and from RUR 5,671 for Economy tickets. Flight U6 2498 (Yerevan-Anapa) will be available every Monday and Thursday (departure: 6:00 PM; arrival: 6:35 PM). Prices start from RUR 4,258

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, September 19, 2018. MMK Group came up with its first RPA bot that actually performs a human’s actions involved in working on a computer, the company press service reports. The robot was designed by MMK Group’s member enterprise MMK-Informservis’s RPA Competence & Innovations Center on the basis of robotic process automation technology. The bot is meant to ensure efficient interaction between Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Finance Directorate with the plant’s scrap metal suppliers; the new software has already been launched at an industrial scale. The bot

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 19, 2018. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) Central Power Station embarks on this year’s heating season with heating supply to Nizhniy Tagil’s social infrastructure facilities and apartment buildings. The heating grids have been filled with water that is set to circulate, EVRAZ Holding’s press service reports. EVRAZ NTMK engineers spent the months of March through August repairing the heating equipment to make sure Nizhniy Tagil locals can enjoy uninterrupted heat and hot water supply in winter. They repaired Water Boiler 1 and

UrBC, Moscow, September 19, 2018. Russia will no longer apply preferential-term import duties on car parts for in-plant assembly; other EEC member states, however, continue with the policy, Prime Refers to the Eurasian Economic Committee as stating. The EEC decided to bring the import duties on car parts in full compliance with Russia’s obligations within the WTO. Prior to this decision, the preferential-term duties were set at zero; they are now expected to rise 3% to 10%. The Russian Government intends to offer subsidies to car makers that have in-plant assembly contracts to offset the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 18, 2018. The annual Metal Expert of The Year Award ceremony took place in Yekaterinburg last month; the award’s primary function is to boost the metallurgical sector’s research potential and to help outline the most relevant production, tech, economic, and environmental challenges, MMK Group’s Information & PR Department reports. The contest got coordinated for the first time this year; the initiative was put forth by OOO AKSALIT Soft, with science expertise provided by B.N. Yeltsin Ural State Federal University. The winners and nominees were announced on

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 18, 2018. EVRAZ Holding will be presenting its innovative rails and wheels at a major international railway exhibition InnoTrans, the company press service reports. This is the fourth time EVRAZ is taking part in InnoTrans, in Berlin on September 18-21 this year. The company’s stand will feature rails made to fit the Russian, EU, and U.S. standards, as well as locomotive and freight wheels. The holding usually comes to InnoTrans with the produce that enjoys demand abroad.The company currently offers its customers over twenty different rail varieties and more

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 18, 2018. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) has been running its maternity and birthrate-enhancing initiatives since 2004, MMK’s Information & PR Department reports. The program allows expectant mothers to stop working yet still receive their average monthly pay from Week 13 of their pregnancy and till their maternity leave, as long as they attend special courses at Maternity Center, where pregnant women can get the physically and psychologically prepared for the birth and the childrearing. The women can also come to the company water park free of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 18, 2018. EVRAZ’s Steel Dynasties Exhibition is now open in the park next to Nizhniy Tagil Mining & Metallurgical School, EVRAZ Holding’s press service reports. The exhibition presents photographic histories of metallurgists’ and miners’ families who worked at EVRAZ member enterprises in Siberia and the Urals for several generations in a row. The solemn opening ceremony was attended by EVRAZ Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) and EVRAZ Kachkanar Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise (KGOK) Managing Director Alexei Kushnarev. There are

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, September 18, 2018. Tatarstan State Symphony Orchestra and People’s Performer of Russia Alexander Sladkovsky are to perform on stage of M.I. Glinka Chelyabinsk State Opera & Ballet Theater on September 18 and 19, ChelPipe Group’s press service reports. ChelPipe Group-coordinated music concerts have been coordinated and sponsored by the Group’s shareholders Andrei Komarov and Alexander Fedorov. ‘The Group invests heavily in the socioeconomic development of the parts of Russia where its member enterprises operate; the investments cover programs to preserve the area’s

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, September 17, 2018. The International Business Congress Committee will meet at Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant (ChelPipe) on Tuesday, September 18 to talk about the plant’s ‘white-coated metallurgy’ as the future of pipeline transfer. According to ChelPipe’s press service, over a hundred congress members who represent such international giants as Gazprom, TMK, OMK, Severstal, SOGAZ, Mitsui, Wintershall, Shell, and Baker Hughes will join in the meeting. Chelyabinsk Region Government officials, members of Russia’s O&G Union, and representatives of other pipeline