UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 20, 2020. Sverdlovsk Region’s courts processed 1.07m criminal, civil, and administrative lawsuits last year, which exceeded the figures for the year 2018 by 18%, President Justice at Sverdlovsk Region Court Vladimir Dmitriyev said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg today. According to Dmitriyev, the overall workload rose in 2019 against 2018, with some 411 cases per every Justice of the Peace a month and 26 cases per every district judge a month. Around 197,000 cases had to do with collection of loan debt (up 20% on the year 2018) and 120,000 cases (heard by

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 20, 2020. The price of studio apartments rose by 10% on Yekaterinburg housing market between January 2019 and January 2020 and can now be had for RUB 77,600 per m2 on average, Avito Nedvizhimost’s analysts state. This makes Yekaterinburg No. 13 in the rating of Russia’s 24 largest cities with their studio price dynamics. The price of studio apartments in newly constructed apartment buildings has been going up in nearly every large Russian city. The average studio apartment size, however, has dropped by 2%, down to 26.7 m2. As for Yekaterinburg, a typical studio

UrBC, Moscow, February 20, 2020. Starting February 19, 2020, no Chinese nationals will be allowed to enter the Russian Federation for the time being. The decree to this effect, signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, is now available on the Cabinet’s website. According to the decree, it was decided to put a temporary entry ban on the People’s Republic of China’s nationals trying to cross the Russian Federation border for work or study/as tourists/on private visits. Kommersant states the decree was signed after a COVID-19 HQ meeting ‘due to the epidemic in China getting worse and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 20, 2020. For the first time in Russia, you can now pay for your gasoline using a QR code within the Faster Payments System. The initiative has been put forth by SKB-Bank, Benzuber, and the National Payment Card System, SKB-Bank’s press service reports. ‘For the first time in Russia, FPS-enabled QR code payments were made available at filling stations in February 2020. This means the station owner who works with the FPS can cut overheads by paying less per transaction. The car owners, in their turn, can enjoy an easier and faster way of filling up their tanks,’

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 19, 2020. The number of bankruptcy claims placed with Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court rose by 80% last year against one year previously, President Justice Svetlana Tsvetkova said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg today. ‘The most noticeable increase in the number of claims was in bankruptcy ones: these went up by 80%. For one, 3,473 personal bankruptcy claims got placed with the court in 2019 [almost twice as many as in 2018 - Ed.], along with 2,041 insolvency claims relating to legal entities [1.5 times as many as in 2018 - Ed.], and 222

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 19, 2020. All of OOO FORES’s employees will get informed of their need to choose between paper-based and electronic work record files by June 30, 2020, the company’s press service reports. ‘Those at their workplaces will get the notifications in person, while those who will be on sick or parental leave at the time will be able to pick the notification at the HR Department in person or to get it mailed to them. In any case, FORES’s HR departments will be contacting each and every worker, so everyone will get notified,’ the company says. ‘The employees who choose

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 19, 2020. Some 200 residents of Pervouralsk, Sverdlovsk Region, took part in a presentation on the urban improvement program designed at ChelPipe Group’s initiative, the company’s press service reports. The program relies on a comprehensive research carried out by Culture and Urban Development Center (Head: Sergey Kapkov) and the locals’ proposals. ‘ChelPipe Group is Sverdlovsk Region’s first company to propose a unique urban environment transformation program. The company has already directed RUB 70m to the project and is willing to offer extra funding for the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 19, 2020. A new automatic process control system has been launched at EVRAZ Holding’s Kachkanarsky Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise’s Sintering Unit 1, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Communications Center reports. ‘The system is based on an advanced, high-efficiency controller which collects and analyzes data on forty tech parameters of the sintering process and on thirty nodal points and appliances within the sintering unit. All the data get displayed on the control panel screens online, which means the unit operator can use the information for immediate

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, February 19, 2020. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) keeps offering guided tours of the company’s production site to all kinds of visitors. So far, over 10,000 people have come to look at the site, MMK’s Information & PR Department reports. ‘MMK was open to visitors before as well: colleagues and partners - customers, equipment and raw materials suppliers, and other metallurgical companies’ representatives - came to one of Russia’s leading metallurgical enterprises all the time. Young residents of Magnitogorsk could also see the legend of Russian metallurgical

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 18, 2020. As of February 3, 2020, the average asking price on Yekaterinburg existing home market came to RUB 72,622 per m2 (up 0.3% on one month earlier), Ural Real Estate Chamber’s Analytical Department’s research findings indicate. The number of apartments on offer through Ural Real Estate Chamber’s database has remained the same for the last four weeks: 8,430. It currently takes 124 days on average to sell an existing home in Yekaterinburg.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 18, 2020. Sverdlovsk Region came 13th in the recent national rating of living standards, with its average score at 57,141. The rating position hasn’t changed since the year 2018, RIA Novosti’s data indicate. The rating relies on the data available from Rosstat, Russia’s Healthcare Ministry, Russia’s Finance Ministry, the Central Bank, and other public sources. Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Moscow Region came first, second, and third in the rating, as has been the case for many years now. North Ossetia, Buryatia, Kalmykia, Ingushetia, Altay, Kurgan Region,

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, February 18, 2020. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) saved around RUB 500 million through a series of energy efficiency-boosting programs, MMK’s Information & PR Department reports. ‘The impressive savings figure stems from MMK’s efforts to enhance energy efficiency at every section of production site. Implementation of improvement proposals proved one of the most important strategies: the company employees submitted 921 proposals through Energy Management Platform App last year; 298 proposals got implemented on a project basis, with RUB 208 million in expected

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 18, 2020. NEYVA Bank’s new service fees for businesses and sole traders come into effect on March 1, 2020. According to the bank’s press service, their basic packages are now even more appealing, price-wise: if you open a bank account with NEYVA, the company card and a card with signature samples come free of charge (the offer does not apply to Discounter Package). Besides, the cost of payments made to the self-employed is already covered. ‘Payments made by legal entities and sole traders to the self-employed (i.e. those paying earned income tax) are part of the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 18, 2020. Alexei Zaitsev, who works as a screener at OOO FORES’s Kamensk-Uralsky branch, won the third prize for the year 2019 at the amateur running club Ural 100, the company’s press service reports. ‘Alexei Zaitsev took part in 53 races (total distance: 1,268 km). The gold winner took part in 83 races (total distance: close to 2,020 km); the silver winner took part in 72 races (total distance: 1,490 km),’ the company says. ‘I decided to say yes to the adventure of Ural 100 Cup last year; the plan was to compete with the well-known runners Alexei Kurochkin,

UrBC, Moscow, February 17, 2020. 29.5m foreign nationals entered Russia last year, which was nearly 10% less than one year previously, Russia’s Federal Security Service’s Border Service’s data indicate. The foreigners visiting Russia most frequently last year came from Ukraine (8.6m people), Kazakhstan (4.3m people), and Uzbekistan (2.58m people), followed by China (2.3m people), Tajikistan (1.57m people), and Azerbaijan (1.18m people). Kyrgyzstan (959,000 people), Finland (938,700 people), Armenia (816,500 people), and Germany (744,500 people) were also among the top ten sources of foreign

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 17, 2020. The telecom company MegaFon landed a partnership with the gaming service Loudplay, which means MegaFon’s customers can now pay for access to Loudplay games using the money in their mobile phone account and play games remotely from a cloud on any kind of device, regardless of capacity. According to MegaFon Ural’s press service, the cloud lets you run games on remote servers directly from a user’s computer; the video gets streamed onto the computer screen online. MegaFon/Loudplay now offer you packages with a minimum guaranteed access of three hours a

UrBC, Kogalym, February 17, 2020. ChelPipe Group will be holding Snezhnost Charity Festival in Kogalym, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region, on February 14-16. The theater marathon took off in the Urals and Tatarstan last December, with support from Russia’s Culture Ministry, Kogalym Council, and LUKOIL. The festival plays will be hosted by Siberia Culture Palace and Metro Youth Center. According to the Group’s press service, Snezhnost will open with The Cat’s House, a family opera performed by young singers from Chelyabinsk Children’s Singing School (created at the initiative of and supported by

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 17, 2020. Sverdlovsk Region transferred RUB 381bn worth of tax payments and revenues to the Russian Federation budget last year, which exceeded the figures for one year previously by 6%, Head of Russia’s Federal Tax Service’s Sverdlovsk Region division Sergey Loginov said at a meeting. ‘RUB 130bn got directed to the federal budget (up 19% on a year earlier) and RUB 251bn got directed to Sverdlovsk Region’s consolidated budget (+0.5%). RUB 206bn went to non-budget funds. Insurance fee payments went up by 8.9%, VAT payments rose by 17% and amounted to RUB 95bn,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 17, 2020. A young athlete from a Greco-Roman wrestling school in Kamensk-Uralsky supported by OOO FORES’s local branch won gold in Sverdlovsk Region Championship. Dmitri Kolokolnikov beat all the other contestants in the under-41 kg category, FORES’s press service reports. ‘More than 120 sportsmen in the 13-15 age group from Yekaterinburg and other towns in Sverdlovsk Region competed in the championship. The first prize in this competition means the winner can represent Sverdlovsk Region in Ural Federal District Championship,’ the press service says, Dmitri

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 14, 2020. The Russian Football Union’s executive committee decided in the course of the meeting on February 13 that the 2019/2020 Russian Cup-Final would be held in Yekaterinburg, the town council’s press service reports. According to the union’s President Alexander Dyukov, two cities were originally shortlisted as the final games venue - Nizhniy Novgorod and Yekaterinburg. The committee voted for Yekaterinburg in the end (14 votes against 6). Eight clubs are currently competing for the Russian Cup in the quarter-final: Spartak Moskva against CSKA Moscow, Akhmat