UrBC, Magnitogorsk, June 20, 2018. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) charity foundation Metallurg’s Woman’s Health Project won in this year’s first presidential grants contest, with state funding provided for the winning non-profit organizations. ‘The key idea behind the project is to support the expectant parents in social, medical, and psychological terms. Two hundred families will join in the project, including two hundred pregnant women who are all employed at Magnitogorsk’s various industrial enterprises but are currently on leave because of harmful working conditions; the women

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 20, 2018. EVRAZ Holding and Russian Railways switched to a new electronic document flow system in order to do away with hard copies. ‘EVRAZ directs over 300 sets of files and reports to Russian Railways every month, with scores of papers in every folder. Switching to e-document flow will mean we can reduce filing and delivery time from eight to one or two days,’ the holding’s press service says. It took the company around a year to switch to electronic format, during which time both EVRAZ and Russian Railways improved the e-storage servers for EVRAZ Nizhniy Tagil

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 20, 2018. Sverdlovsk Region’s public prosecution authorities carried a bill of indictment on a criminal case involving two Yekaterinburg residents who used to run OOO Rubicon Aero Invest. According to the authorities’ press service, the company’s former Director-General and CFO have been charged with abuse of power (Article 201 (Part 2) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code) and large-scale credit fraud (Article 159.1 (Part 4) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code). The inquest team believes OOO Rubicon Aero Invest was working on a new ten-story apartment

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 20, 2018. Expert RA/RAEX commented on the key negative factors affecting Koltso Urala Bank’s performance. The latest report on the bank’s credit rating states that these are 1) the bank’s poor competitiveness (Koltso Urala is currently No.122 on the national rating, in terms of asset volume) and 2) a focus mainly on banking services rendered to the bank’s mother enterprise Ural Mining & Metallurgical Company (UMMC). ‘RAEX also warns about enhanced credit risks related to certain loans taken out by parties who are not connected in any way to the bank but do have

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 20, 2018. 50% of accommodation options available for the World Cup days are still being unused at the moment, OneTwoTrip’s press service reports. ‘Rental apartments are mostly popular with football supporters flying to Moscow: about 54% of private rentals got booked in the Russian capital. Landlords based in Saransk, Kaliningrad, and Nizhniy Novgorod were less lucky, as only about a third of apartments got booked. Yekaterinburg is somewhere in the middle, as exactly 50% of apartments on offer got booked by football fans,’ the press service says. OneTwoTrip’s analysts

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 19, 2018. Three Chinese nationals and a football supporter from Egypt were the first international visitors to try out the tax free option in Yekaterinburg. They got around RUR 75,000 back on their high street shopping, Koltsovo Airport Customs’ press service reports. Passengers departing from International Terminal B asked a customs officer for help with the processing of their receipts and the VAT return forms. The whole thing only took a few minutes. Once the goods, a special-format receipt bearing the customer’s data, and the customer’s ID have been presented,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 19, 2018. The number of loans issued by the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) to small and medium enterprises rose by 81% in the first quarter of 2018 compared with last year, the bank’s press service reports. ‘According to RAEX’s recent research findings, the overall amount of loans issued to SMEs throughout Russia went up by 15% in 2017. The UBRD kept up with the trend: as our loan product range expanded and the financial terms grew more lenient, our customers applied for borrowed funds increasingly more often. Besides, we are also willing to

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, June 19, 2018. A new professional standard for Process Management came into effect in Russia on May 2018. It was Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) that proposed and partially designed the standard for this new job, MMK’s press service reports. The professional standard got developed in collaboration with ABPMP Russian Chapter, OOO ELCODE, and Institute of Logistics and Supply Chain Management. The Process Management Standard defines the job functions, required academic qualifications, and work experience an expert in process management needs to fulfill/have to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 19, 2018. The foundation of a new temple and the blessing of the cross took place in Yekaterinburg’s District Akademicheskiy on June 17, 2018; the ceremony was conducted by Metropolitan Kirill of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye; the temple will be put up in memory of Passion Bearer Evgeny the Doctor and in memory of all doctors in the Fatherland, the developer RSG-Akademicheskoye’s press service reports. The temple is to be situated on the premises of the would-be medical cluster (under construction since March 2018). The temple dedicated to the Russian Royal Family’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 19, 2018. EVRAZ Holding and the Social Investments Foundation coordinated their first All-Russian Children’s Foresight Session in Kachkanar, Sverdlovsk Region, on June 13-15, 2018, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s press service reports. The goal is to engage schoolchildren in the shaping of their home towns’ future. The foresight session took place in Kachanar’s School 57. Over 65 students from the town’s seven secondary schools contributed to the three-day workshop. Children in the 12-17 age group worked on a number of urban improvement projects. Most of the projects had to do

UrBC, Moscow, June 18, 2018. Mercedes is calling off 9,281 cars imported to Russia due to possible airbag problems, Rosstandart reports. The issue applies to Mercedes-Benz A-/B-/C-/CLA-/GLA-/GLC- makes sold between 2016 and 2018. 'The automobiles have to be called off as the driver's airbag might get released due to a static electricity issue,' it is explained. The cars will have to get checked and adjusted if necessary. All the repair jobs will be done at no cost to the car owners.

UrBC, Moscow, June 18, 2018. The Bank of Russia’s new accountability regulations relating to leakage of data to do with monetary transactions come into effect for the Russian banks on July 1, 2018. According to the bank’s press service, the banks no longer have to present the technical parameters indicative of how and why a cyber security issue has emerged. On the other hand, they do have to present the economic parameters indicative of the attacks’ financial outcomes for both the banks and their customers. For one, the banks must now report on what amounts the hackers tried to steal within

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 18, 2018. Engineers from EVRAZ Holding's Raspadskaya Coal Company developed My Mine, a virtual mine simulator for training purposes. This unique 3D training program won gold at the 25th International Russia's Coal & Mining 2018 Exhibition, the holding's press service says. My Mine is meant for supporting students of mining and for improving working miners' professional skills. A VR helmet will help a student design the mine's underground infrastructure themselves (the rock matter, the conveyor belts, the underground engineering

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 18, 2018. The foundation for a new temple will be laid in Yekaterinburg's District Akademicheskiy on June 17. The church will be located next to an innovative medical cluster whose construction began in March, RSG-Akademicheskoye's press service reports. The cross will be put up on the construction site on Sunday. The ceremony will by performed by Metropolitan Kirill of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturiye and attended by the management of RSG-Akademicheskoye's (KORTROS Corporation), as the developer intends to assist in the construction process.

UrBC, Moscow, June 18, 2018. The Bank of Russia's Board of Directors decided to keep the refinancing rate at 7.25%, the regulatory authority's recent statement indicates. The BOD meeting took place on June 15, 2018. As is clear from the statement, the decision to keep the current refinancing rate has to do with growing pro-inflation risks. For one, the inflation rate might go up 1% because the Russian Government ruled the VAT would be increased to as much as 20%. According to the Bank of Russia's estimates, these new fiscal amendments will speed up the inflation rate by about

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 15, 2018. The Russian Government's Vice Premier Tatiana Golikova says every one in two jobless people in the country is in the 20-34 age group, Interfax quotes the official as saying. 'Young people aged 20 to 34 currently make up the largest segment of the unemployed; their share in the overall number of the jobless now comes to 48.7%,' Golikova said at a government briefing on Thursday. The Vice Premier also said they didn't have any statistical data on disease and mortality rates among women in the 50-60 age group and men in the 60-65 one.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 15, 2018. Ural Airlines carried a performance report for the first five months of the year 2018. According to the air carrier's press service, 3,022,946 people have flown with Ural Airlines since the start of the year, which exceeds the figures for one year earlier by 19%. Between January 1 and May 31, 2018, the airline operated 22,034 flights, including 12,019 domestic ones, 4,931 flights to and from the NIS member states, and 5,084 international flights. This was 16% more than in the five months of 2017. In May 2018, 736,078 people chose to fly with Ural

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 15, 2018. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Plant’s (MMK) most powerful rolling mill, its hot-roll Mill 2000, set an output record in May with its 527,500,000 kg of rolled goods, the company press service reports. ‘This is more than the mill has ever produced in any given month since the day it was launched in 1994. The previous output record was set in January 2015 (526,200,000 kg),’ the press service says. MMK’s hot-roll Mill 2000 is one of Russia’s most powerful facilities. The mill is situated in MMK’s Sheet-Rolling Department 10. The entire unit got reconstructed in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 15, 2018. The Bank of Russia issued a special leaflet for arriving football supporters on how to avoid scammers during the World Football Championship days. The bank advises visitors against handing their credit/debit card over to strangers when trying to pay for their shopping, taking out cash out of ATMs located in poorly lit, pedestrian-free streets, exchanging their cash in the street, and clicking on links sent from unfamiliar sources, and warns about the dangers of fake ruble bills. 'Please ignore any texts, emails, or calls that pretend to come from any

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, June 15, 2018. Football supporters and international travelers coming to Russia will be able to save up on roaming prices and still use enjoy unlimited access to their messengers and social networks; they will also get some prepaid voice call time and texts to stay in touch with friends and family, MegaFon's press service reports. The special offer is tailored to suit the needs of active travelers, including football fans. The package includes unlimited Internet access for WhatsApp, Viber, eMotion, Snapchat, and Facebook Messenger as well as for Facebook and