UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 5, 2017. MegaFon’s analysts report the telecommunications provider’s customers are increasingly more interested in MegaDisc, their cloud service, the company press service reports. ‘The number of MegaDisc users rose by a quarter in the three summer months alone. A customer stores an average of 1.3Gb of data through the service, most of which is photographs. The overall amount of files in a cloud roughly equals to 25m shots,’ says MegaFon Ural Mass Market Development Director Sergey Alferov. The cloud service synchronizes files from one’s tablet, smartphone, and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 5, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) keeps expanding on the national mortgage market, the bank’s press service reports. Starting September 4, mortgage loans will be issued in the bank’s outlets in Novosibirsk, Tyumen, Kazan and Kirov in addition to the existing mortgage centers in Yekaterinburg, Nzihniy Tagil, Ufa, Perm, and Chelyabinsk. ‘We keep looking for new growth points, so our decisions as to a particular product’s development depend on both the mortgage market potential and the current demand for real estate as well as on

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 5, 2017. Rosset’s Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems competed the capital repairs of its 229-kilowatt autotransformer unit at 500-kilowatt Demyanskaya Power Substation in Tyumen Region, the company press service reports. Two more autotransformer units will get repaired at 500-kilowatt Kholmogorskaya Substation and 220-kilowatt Urengoy Substation in Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous District before the end of the year. ‘The company power engineers checked the switching units for performance and replaced the relays, the gas protection and current circuit cables,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 5, 2017. Ural Airlines are offering their customers new, direct flights from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport to Navoi and Ugench, Uzbekistan, the air carrier’s press service reports. Moscow-Navoi-Moscow flights will be operated every Friday starting from September 21; prices start from 12,500 RUR (one way). Moscow-Urgench-Moscow flights will be operated on Wednesdays and Saturdays beginning from September 20; prices start from 14,800 RUR. ‘Uzbekistan is the cradle of an ancient civilization famous for its breathtaking turquoise-colored tile domes. Navoi, built in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 4, 2017. A solemn welcoming ceremony was held for first-year students of ChTPZ Group’s Future of White Metallurgy Corporate Training Program at the Group’s Training Center, the company press service reports. 225 16-year-old school-leavers got enrolled on the program today. The Group’s top managers, heads of the Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant’s production departments, and the Future of White Metallurgy Program alumni all congratulated the new students on the start of their school year. ‘The Group’s innovative production departments need highly skilled

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 4, 2017. Russian Copper Company’s Charity Fund presented school-starters from Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk Regions with backpacks and school supplies they need for their studies, the company press service reports. ‘770 children from cities and towns in Chelyabinsk Region where the company runs its enterprises received school-starting presents all in all; some presents were also given to children supported by charity organizations in Yekaterinburg. Children from Karabash, Kyshtym, Tominsky, and Varna all went to school with backpacks, folders, and school supplies

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 4, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Metallurg Health Resort in Yessentuki came fifth in the national Nation’s Elite rating, MMK Information & PR Department reports. ‘One of MMK’s largest sanatoriums, headed by Alexei Kovalenko, was given the status of Russia’s CSR Enterprise, Russia’s Business Elite Grand Gold Medal, and a Reliable Partner certificate. Metallurg was also nominated for Economy Leader 2017 certificate. Alexei Kovalenko is to receive the Order of Labor Glory and the Flawless Reputation & Professionalism certificate; the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 4, 2017. Russia’s Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov and acting Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev are going to visit Sinara Group and Siemens’s joint venture Ural Locomotives Plant at 10 AM on September 2, the Group’s press service reports. ‘This is the first time the minister is coming to the plant’s production site. Minister Sokolov will take a look at our rolling stock monitoring center, where a presentation will be made on the plant-designed Smart Loco+Smart Train dispatcher control system. The minister will also pay a visit to the production site

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 4, 2017. The average asking price currently comes to 66,301 RUR per m2 on Yekaterinburg existing home market, which is 2.6% less than at the start of the year and 13.6% less than in February 2015, Ural Real Estate Chamber’s analytical report states. The market supply keeps gradually going down (-2.9% in the last four weeks and -2.1% compared with the start of the year). So far, the change hasn’t had any significant impact on the overall market balance. Even though there are under 10,000 apartments on offer in the chamber’s database at the moment, customers still

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 1, 2017. Rosset’s Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems fully prepared its Urals-based power facilities for the upcoming fall and winter. The company invested some 2.2bn RUR in local infrastructure this year, the company press service reports. Heating season preparations were attended to in the course of a meeting in Chelyabinsk on August 30. The meeting was chaired by Russia’s Energy Minister Andrei Cherezov and contributed to by FCG UES managers. The company runs two subsidiaries in the area: MES Urals and MES Western Siberia. The company power engineers

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 1, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) presented its environmental protection projects at Magnitogorsk Environment Photo Exhibition in the city’s local history museum, the company press service reports. The exhibition opened in the Year of the Environment in Russia. The unique photographic materials display the changes in the city’s environment since the early nineties. ‘Visitors to the exhibition can see how both the environment and our attitude to it kept changing throughout the years. There are three sections to this exhibition: the first one

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 1, 2017. Sinara Group’s Sinara Transport Machines (STM Holding) is presenting its new TGM8KM loco at the 6th International EXPO 1520 Exhibition in Moscow on August 31. The loco was made in cooperation with Cuban Railway Union, the Group’s press service reports. The event is to be attended by Russia’s Deputy Industry & Trade Minister Georgiy Kalamanov, the Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to Russia Emilio Lozada Garcia, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Cuba Mikhail Kamynin, and STM President Sergey Papin. Under the terms of their agreement, STM

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, September 1, 2017. Russia’s Honored Masters of Sports Eduard Abzalimov and Alexandra Kuleshova are going to perform in a fight in Chelyabinsk’s Tractor Arena on September 9 (Town Day). The event is coordinated by Russian Copper Company Boxing Promotion. The two boxers will fight against players from Kazakh cities of Almaty and Kostanay. The 33-year-old Eduard Abzalimov comes from Miass, is now captain of Chelyabinsk boxing team, European champion (2010), silver world champion (2009), winter of Junior European and World Championships (2001 and 2002), nine-time national prize

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 1, 2017. ChTPZ Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) got certified for compliance with STO Gazprom 9001-2012 standard within the framework of Intergascert, a certification system members join voluntarily, the Group’s press service reports. ‘The audit included assessment of the plant’s pipe design, development, production, and delivery,’ the press service says. The certificate proves PNTZ’s quality management systems fully meet Gazprom’s corporate standards set for goods suppliers. ‘The audit committee members spoke very highly of the way the plant implements

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 31, 2017. EVRAZ NTMK keeps working on its new ball-rolling mill, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Center reports. The mill will be eventually launched at the rail and beam department; the workers are currently busy assembling the basic mill equipment. ‘We need to get the pre-heating furnace, the rolling mill stand, the ball thermal treatment section, and the unloading section assembled. The production line is going to be 300 meters long. Once launched, it will create quite a few new jobs,’ the Center says. The use of a new two-stage hardening technology and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 31, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) launched a pilot project this August to find new workers with the help of an automated system, the bank’s press service reports. A voice bot, a recruiter named Vera, processes all the applications candidates submit on job-hunting sites, and contacts the ones whose qualifications match those of a particular job opening the bank has. UBRD Corporate Development & Personnel Management Director Yuri Voronin says relying on a robot will result in more efficient handling of recruitment-related tasks.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 31, 2017. Rosset’s Federal Grid Company United Energy System carried its usual scheduled heat monitoring of electric units at its power substations in Western Siberia and eliminated problems that were detected during the checks, the company press service reports. This is meant to prevent emergencies and to ensure a more reliable power supply to the area’s 3.5m-plus end users. ‘We use a thermal imager to do our heat monitoring routines: the imager traces even the smallest temperature fluctuations, which allows to detect problems at a very early stage and fix them

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 31, 2017. The telecommunications provider MegaFon celebrated its 15th anniversary by launching 4G Internet connection in the village of Kharp in Yamal Peninsula, the company press service reports. ‘The fourth-generation network is now available in the remotest part of the peninsula. We introduced 4G connection in Kharp, where the Ural Mountains begin, in the year MegaFon turned fifteen. Locals can now enjoy really speedy data transfer,’ says MegaFon Ural’s Director Valeriy Velichko. MegaFon expanded its 4G network by 33% since the start of the year (covering 150

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 31, 2017. Ural Airlines will be operating direct and scheduled flights from Saint Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport to Namangan, Uzbekistan, the air carrier’s press service reports. The flights will be operated on comfortable Airbus A320 planes every Wednesday; the return flight to Saint Petersburg will be operated on Thursdays. ‘One of Uzbekistan’s largest cities, Namangan in located in Fergana Valley. The city is famous for its history (dating back hundreds of years): this is where you can see the ruins of the ancient settlement of Ahsikent, for example. Namangan is

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 30, 2017. Ural Airlines re-launch their direct Moscow-Munich-Moscow flight starting December 30. The flight will be available every Tuesday and Saturday, the air carrier’s press service reports. Flights will be operated from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport through the end of winter 2017/2018. Prices start from 7,200 RUR for Promo tickets (one way) and from 9,000 RUR for Economy tickets (one way, one piece of luggage and a set of sports equipment included). The price covers all fees and charges. ‘Munich is one of Germany’s most beautiful cities with plenty of museums,