UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 27, 2017. Head of Yekaterinburg Council Alexander Yakob said they would consider other options apart from Yekaterinburg Underground extension in case the city gets chosen as the host for EXPO 2025. Yakob announced the news during his interview to Open Studio. According to the official, they will have to decide whether it makes sense to introduce a second line to Yekaterinburg Underground once all the layout planning for Expo Park has been completed. In 2019, provided the city does get to host the exhibition, they will start working on public transit planning and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 27, 2017. 9.7% of Sverdlovsk Oblast-based bank loan-takers were over sixty years old as of November 2017. According to the National Credit History Bureau, the constituency comes 28th in the overall national rating of borrowers in the 60+ age group. In Russia on the whole, the share of senior-age borrowers amounted to 10.4% in November. This was 1% more than one month previously, which was the greatest increase among all age groups. The shares of successful loan applicants also went up by 0.4% in the under-25 age group, by 0.5% in the 30-39 age group, and by 0.1%

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 26, 2017. Russian Copper Company is going to implement a large-scale action plan next year intended to prevent occupational health hazards and accidents at work, the company press service reports. To make this possible, the company signed a job safety cooperation agreement with 3M Russia for the year 2018. The paper was signed during the corporate job safety conference attended by Russian Copper Company Group’s job safety experts. The conference covered a report on the experts’ performance in 2017 and a roadmap for the year 2018 that included projects to improve

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 26, 2017. Yekaterinburg’s Akademicheskiy District and Ural State University of Economics signed an agreement to set up a Chair for Communal Housing Services & Utilities on December 25, 2017, RSG-Akademicheskoye’s press service reports. According to the company, the new district’s engineering infrastructure keeps growing, new technologies are being used, so there’s great demand for skilled workers, who are hard to find. The agreement was signed by RSG-Akademicheskoye’s Director-General Viktor Kisselev and Rector of USUE Yakov Silin.

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, December 26, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Metallurg Charity Foundation coordinated a special event for its charity project participants, MMK Information, PR & Advertising Department reports. 60 multiple-children families (270 people altogether) gathered together at Jazz Cinema in Magnitogorsk. ‘Our project to support families with special-needs children is one of Metallurg’s oldest programs. This includes paying for the children’s medications, lab tests, medical treatment, and their therapy at the medical and social support centers, helping these

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 26, 2017. SKB-Bank signed three government contracts with Novosibirsk Oblast, promising to provide RUR 500m in credit lines on each contract within three to four years’ time, the bank’s press service reports. According to Novosibirsk Oblast’s Finance Ministry, the interest rates were set at 10,43% to 11.21% a year. The funds will be directed to offsetting temporary cash shortages and to paying off current debts in compliance with Novosibirsk Oblast Budget Act. ‘It is delightful to have a sovereign-rating borrower on our loan book now. We hope to keep on

UrBC, Moscow, December 26, 2017. Russians spent RUR 4.4 trillion on new and used cars this year, Avtostat reports. According to the agency’s data, 1.3m new cars were purchased (average price of a car: RUR 1.329m), which amounted to over RUR 1.7 trillion all in all. The used cars market proved nearly twice as large, with RUR 2.7 trillion spent on 4.8m used cars (average price: RUR 554,300). Moscow market was Russia’s No.1, with revenues at RUR 565bn. Saint Petersburg and Novosibirsk were the country’s second and third largest car markets, with revenues at RUR 260bn and RUR 52bn, respectively.

Inventor and billionaire Elon Musk and public transit consultant Jarrett Walker keep debating over urban transit online; the latter is known for contributing to the project to reform Yekaterinburg’s public transit system. The debate first hit the spotlight when the man behind Tesla and Falcon called Jarrett Walker an idiot; but this is about more than just personal disagreements. At the heart of the dispute are two long-term urban transit development concepts: Musk believes the future belongs to ‘individualized transport’, whereas Walker and his supporters vote for public transit. As is

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 25, 2017. Sinara Group set up a licensed medical practice at its Romantic Hotel in Arkhyz, the company’s all-year-round mountain resort, the Group’s PR Center reports. The small practice will deal in prevention and rehabilitating treatment of bronchopulmonary diseases. Based on advice from a physician, visitors to the health resort can undergo rehabilitation and prevention therapy for two to fifteen days. The therapy includes breathing exercises, nebulizer inhalations, halotherapy, and oxygen cocktails. Additionally, all visitors to Arkhyz will also be offered

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 25, 2017. Employees of Beloyarskaya Nuclear Power Station received memorable badges for the construction of BN 800 Reactor Power-Generating Unit 4 on Energy Engineer’s Day, the station’s press service reports. The badges will be given to over 2,000 employees of contractor companies who focused on the design, construction, assembly, and startup of the unit, as well as to the employees of the station’s various divisions who contributed to design, construction, assembly, and startup and commissioning. Workers of Atomproyekt, Uralenergostroy, Uralenergomontazh,

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, December 25, 2017. More than twenty mayors and heads of city councils from Chelyabinsk Oblast went on a tour of Russian Copper Company Group’s Karabashmed in Karabash. The visitors also looked at the new sports facility Metallurg the company put up and talked to the plant’s long-service employees who practice at the Active Longevity Sports Club, the company’s press service reports. Metallurg looks very impressive. The gym is particularly well-equipped. Karabash used to be seen as an economically depressed town, but now we can say with confidence that you don’t find a gym

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 25, 2017. ChTPZ Group’s 15th Snezhnost Charity Theater Festival closed in the Urals and the Volga Region this week. This year, the plays were performed in Chelyabinsk, Pervouralsk, Almetyevsk, and (for the first time ever) Ozersk, the Group’s press service reports. More than 15,000 young spectators got to see the festival plays. They are children from foster homes and live-in schools, children from low-income families, children of single parents, children from multiple-children families, and students of schools the Group supports financially. Some of them are

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 25, 2017. Sverdlovsk Oblast imposed a temporary ban on import of tangerines from Abkhazia because of a halyomorpha halys (marmorated stink bug) contagion, Head of Sverdlovsk Oblast’s division of Rospotrebnadzor Natalya Saifulina told UrBC. ‘Tangerines are no longer imported to Sverdlovsk Oblast from Abkhazia. Once this bug has been detected, all imports had to stop, as these tangerines must be quarantined and any import is forbidden. Actually, there aren’t even enough fruits left to get exported because of this bug. Plus the quarantine and the import embargo,’

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 22, 2017. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) proved Sverdlovsk Oblast’s largest charity donor among ferrous metallurgical enterprises, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s press service reports. EVRAZ Kachkanar Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise (KGOK) was also among the largest donors in the mining sector. This year, the company directed over RUR 1.6m to charity and social projects in the Urals. NTMK also proved one of the most prolific benefactors in Nizhniy Tagil. ‘EVRAZ Holding supports educational, culture, and healthcare establishments

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 22, 2017. A new kindergarten for 250 children opened in Yekaterinburg’s Akademicheskiy District today. This is the ninth pre-school establishment in the area. Kindergarten 43 can be found at 38 Wilhelm de Gennin St. The building was put up impressively fast: workers entered the construction site in the summer and completed all the jobs in December. This cost RUR 140m to build and get ready. According to RSG-Akademicheskoye’s Director-General Viktor Kisselev, everything was ready so fast due to efficient public-private partnership schemes. ‘We provided a land

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, December 22, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) was among the top three companies on the National Purchasing Transparency List for the year 2017 as Private Commercial Customers, MMK Information, PR & Advertising Department reports. The awarding ceremony took place at Russia’s Chamber for Commerce & Industry in Moscow. The event was attended by representatives of state, local government, municipal, corporate, and commercial customers. MMK came third in the rating of 113 private commercial customers and first in the rating of High Transparency Companies.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 22, 2017. Sinara Group’s/ Sinara Transport Machines’ Ural Diesem Motor Plant (UDMZ) and Zvezda set up a joint venture meant for making high-speed engines on a serial scale, Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. According to Russia’s Minister for Industry & Trade Denis Manturov, setting up a leading national engine-building plant is the first step necessary to start making new-generation Russian engines that will be fully comparable with their foreign counterparts and will prove even better than those in certain respects. ‘The key thing is that UMDZ and Zvezda

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 22, 2017. 32% of local companies are only going to have reduced budget for their office New Year parties this year, HeadHunter reports. According to HH’s survey findings, the share of Russian businesses that choose to celebrate New Year at an office party hasn’t changed since 2014: 74% of respondents keep having them, despite the country’s ongoing economic hardships. ‘Restaurants remain the preferred event venue: nearly a half of those surveyed are going to have their company New Year party at a restaurant. 16% of businesses will have office parties, and every

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2017. Rosset Group’s Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems (FGC UES) took on twenty-five vocational school and college graduates to work at its Western Siberia branches. These are mostly people with degrees from the Urals- and Siberia-based universities, FCG UES Western Siberia’s PR & Media Group reports. The company runs cooperation agreements with twelve colleges in the area, including Surgut University, Vyatka University, Tomsk Polytechnic, South Ural State University, Tyumen Industrial University, and Yugra University. Working in close

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2017. A new kindergarten for 250 children will open in Yekaterinburg’s Akademicheskiy District on December 21, 2017. The up-to-date building of Kindergarten 43 can be found at 38 Wilhelm de Gennin St. Workers entered the construction site in the summer and completed all the jobs in December. The kindergarten in 100% ready to open. The facade is finished off with grey bricks and decorative brightly colored composite plates between the corner windows. The building has all the rooms necessary for great quality daycare/education programs. Children will start