UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 3, 2018. EVRAZ Holding supported the 7th International Piano Contest for the first time this year; the contest took off in Yekaterinburg on August 31, 2018 and will round up on September 14, the holding’s press service reports. Forty-four pianists from Russia, England, France, Switzerland, Poland, Israel, China, South Korea, and Kazakhstan will be competing in this Vera Lotar-Shevchenko-dedicated event. Concerts will be held in several venues: P.I. Tchaikovsky Music School, Sverdlovsk Philharmonic, M.P. Mussorgsky Ural State Conservatoire, and Yeltsin Center’s

UrBC, Moscow, August 31, 2018. Russia’s Federal Tax Service is now allowed to freeze sole traders’ and companies’ bank accounts if they fail to make their insurance premium payments on time; the amendments to Russia’s Tax Code come into effect on August 30, 2018. ‘No account-freezing sanctions will get imposed on any private individual who is not a sole trader and is under no obligation to pay the insurance premiums. No amendments have been made to the Tax Code in this respect,’ Federal Tax Service told RIA Novosti. It was pointed out once again that the fiscal authorities got granted no

UrBC, Moscow, August 31, 2018. According to the National Credit History Bureau’s press service, a consumer loan issued in Russia gets paid out in 3.83 years on average as of QII’18, which is 5.5 months, or 13.4% longer than one year earlier (when the loan period was 3.38 years long on average). The bureau says the loan period extended the most where the smallest consumer loans (under RUR 100,000) are involved: the increase was by ten months, or 39.9%. The largest consumer loans (over RUR 500,000), on the other hand, now get repaid only slightly more slowly than earlier: the increase was by

UrBC, Moscow, August 31, 2018. It is estimated that the Russian Federation’s budget will incur RUR 3.2 trillion in losses after the recent pension reform adjustments have shifted the retirement age for women from 63 to 60, Interfax refers to Russian Vice Premier Tatiana Golikova as stating. Giving up on the idea of women applying for state pension at 63 rather than 60 states for RUR 3.2 trillion money-wise, Golikova said. According to Golikova, the proposal to raise the retirement age for women resulted in backlash felt keenly during the ensuing discussions, given that ‘historically, back in

UrBC, Moscow, August 31, 2018. Pharmaceutical products cost RUR 185.1 per unit/pack on average on the Russian retail market last month; this was 0.8% more than in June 2018, DSM Group’s analysts report. The country’s pharmaceutical market amounted to RUR 75 bn in July 2018 all in all, which exceeded the figures for one year previously by 4.7%. The market also expanded by 3.8% in ruble terms in January-July 2018 compared with one year earlier. The national food supplement market lost 0.4% of its financial worth in July 2018 compared with June 2018 and thus dropped down to RUR 3.8bn. The market

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 31, 2018. 66% of Yekaterinburg’s residents who took part in a recent opinion survey said they would be willing to leave Russia for another country for good, provided they had a good job offer there. 6% of respondents are already employed abroad, zarplata.ru reports after having surveyed 1,140 locals. 88% of those surveyed feel positive about labor migration and believe one should use the opportunity of emigrating if it arises. 12% of respondents, on the other hand, are confident one should stay and work for the good of one’s home country. 66% of respondents

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 30, 2018. Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems installed new transformer units at its 220-kilowatt Mirage Power Substation in Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region, the company’s Western Siberia branch’s PR & Media Relations Department reports. ‘The new equipment is meant to improve the precision of our energy-spending data and to ensure a more reliable power supply to end users (including Rosneft’s member enterprises). 27 new gas-insulated transformer units have been installed at the station all in all,’ the department says. Additionally, a new battery and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 30, 2018. EVRAZ Holding’s member enterprises Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) and Kachkanar Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise (KGOK) coordinated a professional skills contest among their young executives and managers, with over 240 employees taking part. According to the holding’s press service, the competition started at the beginning of summer. The contestants had to get interviewed by an experts’ panel, prove that they can process both verbal and numerical data efficiently, cope with production challenges, and do some teamwork. The two

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 30, 2018. MasterCard owners who had their cards issued by the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) can now enjoy the perks of Apple Pay, the bank’s press service reports. To start using Apple Pay, the cardholders need to add their credit/debit MasterCard to their Wallet App. Apple Pay is available on iPhone SE, iPhone 6, and all the later versions, as well as on Apple Watch. Apple Pay meets all the current financial security and privacy/confidentiality requirements. Whatever card type gets added to the Apple Pay system, no card number gets stored

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 30, 2018. Kuzbass’s largest energy facility, Zapadno-Sibirskaya Power Station was founded exactly fifty-five years ago this month. The station is in charge of providing power supply to EVRAZ Holding’s West Siberian Integrated Metallurgical Works’ production site and heating supply to residents of Novokuznetsk’s Zavodskoy and Novoilyinsky Quarters, EVRAZ’s press service reports. The station has put out over 142bn kilowatt-hours worth of energy (five times more than the entire Kemerovo Region needs in a year) and more than 140m gigacalories of heat (enough to keep

UrBC, Moscow, August 29, 2018. MegaFon now offers flat-rate Internet access to customers who subscribed to the company’s popular payment plans, the mobile carrier’s press service reports. ‘The unlimited Internet access option is now available free of charge and can get signed up for through the customers’ online accounts. New customers won’t need to do even that, as the flat-rate access is already included in the payment plans,’ the press service says. The offer applies to five new payment plans introduced in June that also cover special offers on voice calls, TV/video viewing, and listening

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, August 29, 2018. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Group is holding its annual Metallurgical Family of The Year Contest again, the company press service reports. The contest is supported by MMK Group’s trade union and is open to trade union members’ families with two or more children. ‘The goal is to promote families and family values as a crucial part of a community’s socioeconomic development, help families feel more spiritual unity, and offer a proactive family recreation option. Additionally, we hope to encourage the younger generations’ aesthetic and spiritual

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 29, 2018. Russian Railways have to pay a 100,000-ruble fine for traffic safety violations in Yekaterinburg once again, Sverdlovsk Region Court’s press service reports. Rostechnadzor’s recent inspection of the company’s local facilities revealed quite a few cases of non-compliance related to shortage of the necessary tech equipment and an insufficient number of safety/entry checkpoints. It was also determined that even the individuals who failed to meet the traffic/transport safety access requirements were still allowed to enter Russian Railways’ restricted

UrBC, Moscow, August 29, 2018. The majority of Russians who contributed to a recent opinion survey (87%) said they would have to reconsider vacationing in Turkey if the country gave up on its all-inclusive meal and entertainment options, OneTwoTrip’s press service refers to the company’s survey findings as indicating. 67% of respondents explained they would have to start price-comparing Turkey with other countries for the best value for money offers. Another 20% said they would stop going to Turkey for their vacations altogether if the AI options were no longer available at hotels. Now the

UrBC, Moscow, August 29, 2018. Approximately every one in ten Russian loan-takers (12.5%) have to direct 50% or more of their monthly income to repay their loans as of January-June 2018, Izvestia reports. Three years previously (January-June 2015) their share was actually 15.14%. According to the Bank of Russia, the decrease in the number of heavily debt-burdened borrowers has to do with the fact that quite a few mortgage-takers have recently gone for the refinancing schemes available to them.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 28, 2018. A project to help children in and recently out of Yekaterinburg’s foster homes and live-in schools to learn to blog professionally is about to begin: this is part of the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s Children Believe in Miracles Charity Program, the bank’s press service reports. Experienced teachers, many of whom are successful bloggers themselves, will help the aspiring blog writers to improve their knowledge of the Internet. Experts from a local children’s programming school will offer a lecture and a workshop on blogging. Children in

UrBC, Moscow, August 28, 2018. Russian nationals will start getting assigned a personal credit rating after the latest amendments on the Credit History Act come into effect next year, Rossiyskaya Gazeta refers to acting Director-General of United Credit Bureau Nikolay Myasnikov as saying. According to Myasnikov, the rating will look like a score assigned on the basis of various credit history parameters such as past-due payments, loan burdens, the number of times someone’s credit history check has been applied for, and how long a person’s credit history is. ‘The lower the score, the higher

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 28, 2018. V.A. Sorokin Customs at Yekaterinburg’s Koltsovo Airport detained a passenger traveling from Harbin to Yekaterinburg who chose the green channel despite having three large boxes with him, Koltsovo Customs’ press service reports. The unpacking of the boxes revealed large amounts of women’s shoes bundled inside. All of the shoes (210 units, 46 kg all in all) were the right-leg odd ones. The detained Chinese national explained he was flying to Moscow via Yekaterinburg in order to take part in a footwear exhibition (which is why he only took samples along).

UrBC, Moscow, August 28, 2018. The Russian Government decided to go through with a gasoline and diesel fuel price increase (+RUR 3,700 and + RUR 2,700 per 1,000 liters, respectively) starting January 1, 2019, Interfax refers to Vice Premier Dmitri Kozak as stating. ‘The decision has been made. The excise duty payments will go back to the amounts originally proposed for July 1, 2018,’ Kozak is quoted as saying. The government official insists the increase in excise duty payments will not result in a drastic increase in gas prices. ‘No prices are expected to soar. In any case, our plan is to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 28, 2018. Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state-run consumer rights watchdog) inspected 35,000 kg of dairy foods in the first six months of 2018, finding 2,600 kg (7.4%) faulty, the agency’s press service reports. The problems uncovered were the same as usual: failure to comply with the normative requirements, technical regulations on the foods’ quality, and adulteration issues. Sverdlovsk Region Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology looked into 8,975 dairy foods samples in the first half of 2018 to check for microbiological parameters; 522 samples