UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2020. The amount of jobs done and services rendered in Ural Federal District’s construction sector in January-December 2019 was estimated at RUB 1.2508 trillion, Sverdlovskstat reports. This is, in comparable prices, 10.8% less than one year previously. ‘In 2019, Ural Federal District-based businesses and organizations commissioned 6,538,200 m2 worth of new housing (up 8.8% on the year 2018). Sverdlovsk Region and Tyumen Region (excluding Yugra and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District) were the district’s two top constituencies, construction wise, with 2,391,100 m2

UrBC, Moscow, March 11, 2020. Brent crude oil futures contracts for May 2020 depreciated by 20%, down to $36.2 per barrel on March 9; Light futures contracts for April also lost 19.4% of their stock value, dropping to $33.26 per barrel. Experts say this was Brent’s all-time low since 1991, as quotes plummeted by as much as 30% at certain points throughout Monday. According to analysts, the oil price crisis stems from the Saudi Arabia-Russia negotiations to reduce their oil output by (another) 1.5m barrels a day until the end of the year. According to FinAm Group’s analysts, the world stock

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2020. Sverdlovsk Region came 49th in the rating of Russian Federation constituencies with the most affordable mortgages; the rating was carried by RIA Novosti on the basis of the Bank of Russia’s and Rosstat’s data. In 2019, only 28.5% of Sverdlovsk Region’s households could afford a mortgage (compared with 27.8% of households in 2018). Magadan Region (70.9%), Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District (63.8%), and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District -Yugra (57.2%) topped the national rating, while the constituencies located in the North Caucasus - Dagestan (10%), Chechnya

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2020. Ural Airlines cancelled a number of Israel flights due to spread of the Coronavirus and following the Israeli government’s decision to impose a fourteen-day quarantine on everyone entering the country. According to the airline, the following flights have been cancelled: U6 829/830 (Sochi-Tel Aviv-Sochi) on March 19 and March 22 U6 725/726 (Yekaterinburg-Tel Aviv-Yekaterinburg) on March 12-April 8 U6 897/898 (Mineralnye Vody-Tel Aviv-Mineralnye Vody) on March 29 and April 2 U6 7021/7022 (Domodedovo-Eilat-Ramon Airport-Domodedovo) on March 15-April 23

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 10, 2020. Buckwheat sales dropped by 11% in February 2020 compared with one year earlier; the grain sold for RUB 55.53 per kilo on average (up 10.7% on last February), TaxCom’s research findings indicate. Buckwheat prices stood at their highest in Nizhniy Novgorod (RUB 71.44 per kilo) and Novosibirsk (RUB 67.56 per kilo) in February 2020. Yekaterinburg (RUB 65.5 per kilo) came third in this price rating. It is reported that the price of buckwheat increased in every town the research looked into in the course of last year. Buckwheat sales rose quite noticeably in

UrBC, Moscow, March 10, 2020. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed an executive order to set up a special committee to support the country’s economy, the Cabinet’s website states. According to the website, the goal is to ensure smooth coordination of executive authorities’ steps and their liaising with members of the academic, public, and business communities in order to develop and implement a set of measures to do with the spread of coronavirus so as to support the country’s finance sector and certain branches of the national economy. The ad hoc committee is now chaired by First

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 10, 2020. Mayor of Yekaterinburg Alexander Vysokinsky confirmed the list of public spaces and yards that will undergo improvements this year as part of the town’s Modern Urban Environment Program, the town council’s press service reports. Zelenaya Roshcha Park, XXII Partsyezda Park, the embankment of the Iset River (from Chelyuskintsev St to the pedestrian bridge across the Olkhovka River), and the embankment of Gorodzkoy Pond (from Papanin St to Chelyuskintsev St) are all on the list. The parks were chosen by Yekaterinburg Public Committee following an open ballot

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 10, 2020. Every one in nine people working for Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems’ Ural division is a woman, RosSet Group’s FGC UES’s press service reports. 220-kV Kalininskaya Power Substation in Yekaterinburg has three female employees, which is one of the largest female staff numbers within the Urals’ energy system. Nadezhda Ivonina and Marina Lyaskovskaya work as substation maintenance electricians and Valeria Kostromina is a relay protection and automation engineer. ‘There are very few women working at power substations. When I was in college, there

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 10, 2020. Ural Airlines will let its passengers get their money back or change their destination and/or date of the flight, the air carrier’s press service reports. The offer applies to all of the company’s flights, regardless of the flight date and regardless of the type of ticket you have (including the ‘non-refundable’ ones). You can change the date and/or destination for the flights booked between March 8 and April 15, 2020 until the end of the check-in (that is, until forty minutes before the departure) at no extra charge; you’ll only have to cover the cost of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 6, 2020. As of February 1, 2020, a Sverdlovsk Region-based household needs a monthly income of more than RUB 62,000 in order to afford a mortgage, the National Credit History Bureau’s research findings indicate. This is 6.2% less than six months earlier: as of August 1, 2019, the recommended monthly income was RUB 66,760. In Russia on the whole, the average figures dropped by 6.6% in the last six months and came to RUB 70,700 a month. ‘In the last six months, the average monthly income a Russian family needs in order to pay off a mortgage comfortably has gone down a

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 6, 2020. MegaFon now runs a trade-in service for Apple and Samsung smart watches at its retail outlets. You can get up to 20% on your new device by trading your old one in. ‘In 2019, smart watch sales soared by 700% in unit terms and by 400% in money terms. New interesting makes in varying price ranges enter the market every six months, so the trade-in option lets you buy them at a discount,’ MegaFon says. Just how big a discount you’ll get depends on the condition and the make of the device you’re planning to purchase. You’ll have to provide your device’s serial

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 6, 2020. Sverdlovsk Region’s foreign trade turnover dropped by 15.1% in January-November 2019 compared with January-November 2018 and came to $10.231bn, Sverdlovskstat reports. Exports amounted to $5.993bn (down 24.2% on a year earlier); imports amounted to $4.238bn (up 2.3% on a year earlier). The constituency’s export surplus came to $1.755bn.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 6, 2020. RosSet Group’s Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems (FGC UES) carried its audited consolidated financial performance report (compliant with the International Accounting Standards) for the year 2019. According to FGC UES’s Ural division’s PR & media group, the Group’s revenues amounted to RUB 249.6bn, including RUB 222.4bn stemming from the sale of electric power (up 4.4%, or RUB 9.3bn, on a year earlier); RUB 17.2bn came from the utility connection fees. The revenues stemming from repair and maintenance of other companies’ electric power

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 6, 2020. The foundation of Vysota Ice Academy in Ozersk is now being worked on, ChelPipe Group’s press service reports. The unique sports facility is a public-private partnership project supported by the Group and is expected to get launched in 2021. ‘The 10,000-square-meter facility will house an ice arena with a hockey pitch big enough for 400 spectators; a skate hire service; choreography classrooms; coaches’ rooms; and other spaces that are necessary for doing professional sports. More than 600 children and teenagers are expected to train at the new

UrBC, Moscow, March 5, 2020. The Russian Government put a temporary ban on the export of individual protective gear and certain types of medical produce through June 1, 2020, the executive order signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on March 2 states. It is stated the decision was made ‘in order to protect people’s lives and health’ in accordance with Article 29 of and Appendix 7 to the Eurasian Economic Union Agreement (dated May 29, 2014). According to the statement on the Russian Government’s website, the goal is to protect the Russian nationals’ interests through a temporary ban on

UrBC, Moscow, March 5, 2020. Russia’s largest banks, which currently hold the greatest amount of deposits, reduced the maximum interest rate they offer on ruble deposits down to 5.22% a year on average on February 19-29, the Bank of Russia’s reports state. On February 10-18, the maximum interest rate stood at around 5.45% a year. The average maximum interest rate on savings deposits, as calculated by the Central Bank, serves as a reference point for the Russian deposit market. The CBR recommends that banks offer their private customers the interest rate that does not exceed the average

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 5, 2020. ‘QR-ing’, or the QR code payment, is here to replace the card terminal, Development Director at DeloBank (SKB-Bank’s project targeted at businesses) Irina Kuzmina says. According to Kuzmina, ‘QR-ing’ will be five times less costly than the conventional acquiring payment method. ‘First of all, paying through a QR code makes a customer’s life easier and a seller’s life more comfortable. Businesspeople have frequently complained that acquiring is too costly, which is exactly why we focused on the launch of this innovative payment method that requires no

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 5, 2020. EVRAZ Holding’s Raspadskaya Coal Company introduced new cap lamp with cameras in order to make the miners’ working conditions safer, the company’s press service reports. ‘The cameras will let EVRAZ Holding get access to plenty of video footage that can get processed by computer vision. The analysis of these data will help safety experts detect risks more efficiently and rank these risks based on the type of mining jobs involved: those related to stoping operations, those to do with operation of electrical units, those related to operation of aero-gas

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 5, 2020. Ural Airlines’ state-subsidized Yekaterinburg-Kaliningrad and Kaliningrad-Yekaterinburg flights are even less expensive now, the air carrier’s press service reports. On March 5-May 24, 2020 and October 1-23, 2020, subsidized tickets are available for as little as RUB 5,000 (one way) and RUB 3,750 (for children under 12). On May 25-September 30, 2020, prices come to RUB 6,500 and RUB 4,875 (for children under 12). The airline informs UrBC the flights will get operated on Mondays and Fridays.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 4, 2020. The telecom company MegaFon launched its own cloud platform on the basis of two data centers, MegaFon Ural’s press service reports. ‘MegaFon Cloud is a platform based on two data centers that has been certified in full accordance with the government bodies’ regulations. The service is available to state customers and large businesses,’ the company says. The cloud solution has been certified to meet the TIER III Operational standard, which ensures safety, reliability, and quality tech performance. The platform relies on last-generation processes and SSDs,