UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2017. Ural Airlines’s 600,000th passenger of the year was welcomed and presented with special gifts at Tomsk International Airport on December 19, 2017. Anton Mikhailichenko was flying to Moscow with Ural Airlines’ morning flight, the air carrier’s press service reports. The airline and the airport presented the special passenger with a voucher for one Tomsk-Moscow-Tomsk flight, a VIP member card, and some souvenirs. There was a little celebration with air balloons, presents, and a show by professional performers as usual. Additionally, the airport’s catering

UrBC, Moscow, December 21, 2017. The telecommunications provider MegaFon launched its own cash back service in time for the winter’s holiday season. MegaFon’s customers can now get money bonuses for shopping at 391 different online platforms, including Svyaznoy, M.Video, Media Markt, Lamoda, Aviasales, Adidas, and OBI. According to the company press service, the money will get transferred into a customer’s phone account and can be spent on mobile communication or shopping or taken out as cash with the help of MegaFon bank card. The service (#Специи) works for several hundred popular online

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 21, 2017. Yekaterinburg-based developers are going to get slightly under 1m m2 of new housing commissioned by the end of the year. This is the first time since 2013 that their overall output stands at less than 1m m2 a year, Deputy Head of Yekaterinburg Council for Capital Construction & Land Use Alexei Belyshev said at a press conference. ‘963,000 m2 of new housing will get commissioned in Yekaterinburg this year altogether, including 868,000 m2 of apartment buildings, 73,000 m2 of private houses, 13,000 m2 of low-rise buildings, and 9,000 m2 of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 20, 2017. ChTPZ Group’s and Severstal’s 22nd Coordination Council meeting took place in Cherepovets this month. The event was attended by representatives of the Group’s production, technical, and commercial departments, the company press service reports. The two parties agreed to update their scientific and technological cooperation program. For one, they will work together on the corrosion-resistant rolled goods and new steel varieties for stamp-welded pipeline components at ChTPZ Group’s ETERNO. Severstal and ChTPZ Group also discussed the specifics of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 20, 2017. ChTPZ Group was issued a syndicated loan of up to €150m (or U.S. dollar equivalent), the Group’s press service reports. This is an unsecured club-deal offer with a four-year loan period. A syndicate of international banks (Reiffeisenbank, Commerzbank (Eurasia), UniCreditBank, Rosbank, ICBC Bank, and Agricultural Bank of China acted as creditors and mandated lead arrangers. ‘This is a bi-currency credit line with upper limits at €65m and $35m. The CL can be extended to the extra €10 and $40m that can be provided by either the original creditors or the

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, December 20, 2017. Russian Copper Company Group’s Kyshtym Copper Electrolysis Plant in Kyshtym, Chelyabinsk Oblast is going to set a selenium production record for the year 2017, with the annual output at 57,000 kg. The last record (48,300 kg) was set in 2014, the Group’s press service reports. The plant managed to increase its selenium output thanks to fully switching to mineral raw stuffs supplied by Karabashmed. These stuffs have greater crude selenium content, which means Kyshtym Copper Electrolysis Plant’s engineers had to raise the refining department’s

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, December 20, 2017. Russian Copper Company Group’s Karabashmed now has a new set of equipment (total diameter: 24 m) to have its flotation tailings thickened, the Group’s press service reports. Switching to this new equipment will boost the plant’s copper concentrate output and will also enhance the facility’s environmental safety. Tailings thickening is necessary to ensure their reliable supply to the draining section from which ready-made copper concentrate and mortar sand come out. ‘In addition to this new unit, the plant also has five new aspiration units at its

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 20, 2017. EVRAZ Holding directed more than RUR 1bn to environmental initiatives at its metallurgical and coal-mining member enterprises this year, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Center reports. The company received Russia’s Ministry for Natural Resources & Environment award for its proactive environmental policy. Three of the holding’s projects were on Russia’s Year of The Environment list. ‘For one, the company launched its upgraded dry coke-quenching unit at Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (EVRAZ NTMK) during the recent EcoTech 2017

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 19, 2017. Ural Airlines became partner for the computer-animated feature film Ferdinand produced by the 20th Century Fox Animation and the Blue Sky Studios and supported the film showing around Russia, the air carrier’s press service reports. ‘The new animation film hits the Russian screens around New Year and is a great choice for family viewing. This is an extraordinary story of a pacifist bull from Spain who likes to look at flowers and stretch on a sunny lawn but gets chosen for a bull fight instead,’ the press service says. Ferdinand’s Russian-speaking voice

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 19, 2017. Russian Copper Company took part in EcoTech 2017 International Forum in Moscow on December 12-14, 2017, the company press service reports. The company stand featured its key projects to make up for the environmental damage done to Chelyabinsk Oblast’s industrial towns in the twentieth century. The initiatives to reclaim and rehabilitate the deteriorated lands in Karabash and to refill the used-up Korkinsky Mine were commented on as the breakthrough projects of vital importance to the Southern Urals. Russia’s Ministry for Natural Resources &

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, December 19, 2017. The local Collective Agreement/Protection of Workers’ Social & Labor Rights Contest was held in Chelyabinsk recently, Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Information, PR & Advertising Department reports. Chelyabinsk Oblast-based enterprises and organizations in both state-funded and non-state-funded sectors competed in the event. Their performance was evaluated against the following criteria: workers’ pay, welfare benefits, employment schemes, personnel development, and social responsibility programs. A number of MMK Group’s member

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 19, 2017. Ural Airlines are now offering tickets for children, young people, and retirees at half-price if they book at the company call center or booking offices. ‘New Year’s is the biggest national family event, so people usually give presents to their nearest and dearest. Ural Airlines are giving a 50% discount on tickets for children, people under 23 years old, and women over 55 and men over 60,’ the air carrier’s press service reports. The offer holds from December 15, 2017 to January 10, 2018 and applies to all domestic flights as well as international ones

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 19, 2017. The overall output of ready metal goods (except for machines and equipment) by Sverdlovsk Oblast-based manufacturers dropped by 9.8% in the course of one year, Sverdlovskstat reports. At the same time, the metal goods output decreased by 39.9% in November 2017 compared with October 2017 and by 54% compared with November 2016. Ready metal goods manufacturers’ turnover amounted to RUR 107.136bn in eleven months of the year, which was 7% less than one year earlier. All in all, Sverdlovsk Oblast-based companies in the processing industry increased their

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, December 18, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) received Russia’s Natural Resources & Environment Ministry’s certificate for its proactive environmental policy. The certificate was awarded for the environmental projects MMK completed this year, the company press service reports. The awarding ceremony took place during the Ministry’s Federal Environmental Council meeting in Moscow on December 12. The Proactive Environmental Policy in The Year of The Environment Certificate was given to MMK Director for Job Safety, Industrial Safety & Environment Grigory

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 18, 2017. Sinara Development came up with a special New Year’s offer on homes in new apartment buildings in Volgograd, Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. If you buy before December 31, 2017, you can get a 5% discount on apartments in Romanov and Novy Svet buildings. The offer is valid for customers who are willing to pay 100% of the price upfront and holds for payments made in cash or through mortgage options. Some new home owners will thus be able to spend more on remodeling or furniture, others can reduce the principal amount of their mortgage as well the

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, December 18, 2017. Russian Copper Company won a special prize in the All-Russian Corporate Charity Leaders Contest, the company press service reports. This year’s event was coordinated by the Donors’ Forum Association, PwC, and the newspaper Vedomosti. The final ceremony took place in Moscow on December 13, 2017. Russian Copper Company received a special Vedomosti Prize for Greatest Progress. The award is given to companies with the most considerable achievements in the field of charity work and consistent social policy in a given year. ‘Charity work and proactive social

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 18, 2017. The amount of delayed wages and salaries owed by Sverdlovsk Oblast-based employers to their workers amounted to RUR 17.8m on December 1, 2017, which was 2.9 times more than one year earlier. All in all, four local companies reported their wage arrears issues to Sverdlovskstat. These businesses owed RUR 13.658m to their 963 employees. For one, one of the steel-smelting enterprises in the area owed its 644 workers RUR 9.234 in unpaid wages. Companies dealing in heating power production, driver training, and freight forwarding also failed to pay all of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 18, 2017. Companies in Sverdlovsk Oblast’s communal housing services and utilities sector made RUR 99.6bn in profits between January and September 2017, Sverdlovskstat reports. RUR 19.7bn (19.8%) stemmed from housing services and RUR 79.9bn (80.2%) stemmed from communal services. 53.2% of money came from housing bills issued to private home owners and contractors. These businesses incurred RUR 97.2% in operation expenses (including RUR 26.8bn relating to housing services and RUR 70.4bn relating to communal services). Private home owners paid 99.8% of this money

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 15, 2017. EVRAZ Holding’s Kachkanar Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise (KGOK) recently made and shipped to customer its 200,000th batch of 1,000 kg of pellets. The batch got delivered to Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK), where it will be used for making pig iron in blast furnaces, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Center reports. ’EVRAZ KGOK’s produce fully meets the metallurgical enterprises’ requirements. Thanks to its recent quality improvement programs, the company’s pelletizing plant only makes the best quality pellets that we

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, December 15, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) was featured in the WWF Top10 rating of Russia’s environmentally responsible mining and metallurgical companies, MMK press service reports. MMK came 8th in the rating, which is the best result among all Russian ferrous metallurgical enterprises. The rating and the findings of the research it was based on were presented at the UN representation in Russia on December 11, on the eve of the 5th All-Russian Environmental Protection Congress. The rating of Russia’s environmentally responsible mining and metallurgical