UrBC, Moscow, May 29, 2017. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) won several prizes at Archimedes 2017, the 20th Moscow International Innovations Show, in mid-May. ‘Both our board of experts and international judges’ panel assessed MAGSTRONG trademark very highly. The trademark covers a range of highly durable construction steels and four patented developments to do with ways of making increased durability and wear-resistant welding steel,’ MMK says. The company’s MAGSTRONG trademark was awarded a gold medal and a certificate. Another gold medal was given to MMK for a special technology

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 29, 2017. The telecommunications provider MegaFon’s Urals-based subscribers can now take their gadgets to a next level with Life Control, the company press service reports. Users can now have a set of smart-home features in their apartments (any given set is unique and gets put together like a set of Lego pieces) if they buy a control system and the necessary sensors and devices to do the work. All of the Life Control units within the system will exchange data via a high-speed 4G Internet connection and alarm the users to any dangerous activity in the house. ‘Life

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 29, 2017. Russian Copper Company presented its project on reclamation of territory currently covered by Korkinsky Mine at the 8th Neva International Environmental Congress, the company press service reports. The presentation was part of a round table discussion on the Urals’ environment and innovations in the field. The attending experts, government officials, and business community representatives all had their concerns about the situation in Korkino, Chelyabinsk Region, where Europe’s largest coal mine is situated. The facility is a threat to the locals’ well-being

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 29, 2017. Sinara Group’s Sinara Development, the general contractor for the reconstruction of Yekaterinburg Stadium in time for the World Cup 2018, is now working on site improvements, the Group’s PR Center reports. 80,000,000 kg of macadam chips (varying in size) were delivered onto the site to create pavements and crossings around the arena. Behaton and granite paving stones will be used around the stadium; there will also be 5,500 m2 of green lawns with granite stone fencing. ‘We’ll also have some coniferous and deciduous trees as well as shrubs and flowers planted

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 29, 2017. A new service depot by Ural Locomotives (a joint venture run by Sinara Group and Siemens) recently opened at East Siberian Railway, where the company’s first 2ES7 A/C electric freight loco is operated, Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. The depot employs Ural Locomotives’ highly skilled mechanics to do the after-sale and maintenance jobs. ‘2ES7 has been used to take over sixty trains through Taishet-Severobaikalsk-Taksimo section of Baikal-Amur Mainline so far; over a half of these trains weighed more than 5,000,000 kg. This section of the railway has a

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 29, 2017. Sinara Group and Yekaterinburg Council updated the exhibition located in the pedestrian area in Vainer St, the Group’s PR Center reports. The open-air collection of paintings features two big themes: an art trip (Landscape Polyphony) and Victory’s Milestones, a selection of propaganda posters from the Great Patriotic War. The former unites paintings and graphics by Ural artists that are normally part of Yekaterinburg Gallery of Contemporary Art’s collection. The exhibition features works by different generations of artists: some of them see a landscape as a

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, May 26, 2017. It was decided at Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) annual general meeting that a dividend of 1.242 RUR per share (tax considered) should be paid out to shareholders, the company reports. The shareholders also received the dividends for MMK’s performance in the first half of 2016 (0.72 RUR per share, with taxes accounted for). The AGM also elected MMK’s new Board of Directors: Viktor Rashnikov, MMK Director-General Pavel Shilyaev, MMK Deputy DG for Sales Nikolai Lyadov, MMK Deputy DG for Production Sergey Ushakov, MAGSTORN Finance

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 26, 2017. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation denies having been handed over to Kalashnikov. ‘A number of media commented on the corporation’s alleged acquisition by Concern Kalashnikov, but this is not the case. Both Rostech Corporation and Kalashnikov reported earlier that the reports were inaccurate. No talks on selling the company shares have been or will be held,’ the corporation’s press service says. The holding reports an investigation will be held to look into how these rumors spread. Now Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on December 27 handing Ural

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 26, 2017. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant in Nizhniy Tagil now holds a license to get its testing equipment certified; the equipment in question is used to make sure the company’s defense industry goods meet the necessary requirements, the corporation’s press service reports. The Federal Agency on Technical Regulation and Metrology’s All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Physical & Radio-technical Measurements issued the necessary approval by a board of experts, effective March 20, 2017. The approval means Ural Vagon Zavod can now do its own

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 26, 2017. Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Russian Copper Company’s Chair of the BOD Igor Altushkin with the Order of Friendship, the company press service reports. The awarding ceremony took place in the Kremlin on May 24, 2017. Some thirty prominent scientists, industrialists, sports players, healthcare officials, and culture activists received orders and honorary titles all in all. The President said in his address to the audience that state awards were an ultimate acknowledgement of these Russian nationals’ achievements. ‘You achieved great things in all

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 26, 2017. Rosset’s Federal Grid Company United Energy System is now working on new SF6 circuit breakers at Zvezdnaya, one of Udmurtia’s largest 220-kilowatt substations, the company press service reports. Zvezdnaya Substation (projected capacity: 250 MVA) was originally launched in 1981. The facility is in charge of transferring electric power between Udmurtia and Kirov Region, including the constituency’s northernmost town Glazov. The substation now has two new 220-kilowatt SF6 circuit breakers. Five more 220-kilowatt breakers and two 110-kilowatt ones will also get

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 26, 2017. The Mid-Urals Development Corporation presented Sverdlovsk Region’s timber industry’s potential at the international exhibition LIGNA 2017 in Hanover, Germany. Also, a number of talks were held with potential investors, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. ‘The Mid-Urals timber industry sector has great potential and could be one of the local economy’s key growth points. However, the industry suffers from lack of investments, and a lot of woods in the area are still not being covered. This is why it’s important to inform the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 25, 2017. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Director-General Alexander Potapov met with the Cuban Government representatives to discuss the company’s prospective business activity on the island, TASS reports. Potapov held talks with the Council of Ministers Vice President and Economy Minister Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz and a number of governmental department heads. The executive says the talks focused on the specific issues of industrial cooperation in the civilian production and defense industry sectors. ‘Ural Vagon Zavod is a large-scale industrial enterprise whose

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 25, 2017. SKB-Bank is acquiring the Russian finance/tech project Ecombank, the bank’s press service reports. Ecombank is a startup company offering the latest factoring solutions for online shops. The company specializes in offering loans to such stores, with C.O.D as the loan security: the money gets transferred on the day the order gets shipped to customer. Ecombank has been on the market since 2014. SKB-Bank has already invested the first money installment in the startup. The funds will be directed to finance Ecombank’s customers and to develop new products for the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 25, 2017. 10,600 m2 of low-rise apartment buildings got commissioned in Sverdlovsk Region in the first quarter of 2017, which was three times less than in the first quarter of 2016 (33,500 m2), the Federal State Statistics Service’s (EMISS) website states. 231,500 m2 of housing got put up in the constituency in January-March 2017 altogether, which only amounted to 50.8% of the amount put up one year previously.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 25, 2017. 80% of the crops have been sown in the Mid-Urals by now, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department refers to Sverdlovsk Region’s Agriculture Minister Dmitri Degtyarev as stating. For one, 84%, 64%, and 55% of the planned amounts of grains, potatoes, and vegetables have been sown. Everything is being done on the agronomic schedule, with weather conditions good enough for sowing 5% of the available arable land daily. ‘The sowing jobs are all going forth according to plan. The good weather in and near Irbit, Bogdanovich, and Sysert means 97%

UrBC, Moscow, May 25, 2017. Ural Federal District-based banks closed over 1.078bn RUR in loan fraud last year, United Credit History Bureau’s press service reports. The Bureau’s analysts calculated the banks’ losses resulting from fraudulent actions in 2016. Loan frauds were classed as such if not a single repayment was made within four months of the issuance. 34,428 such loans got issued in Ural Federal District last year, which amounted to 1.46% of all the loans issued in the area. This is 19% more than in 2015, with the average loan amount at 31,323 RUR. In Russia on the whole, 334,000

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 24, 2017. Exhibit 781, jokingly dubbed ‘The Terminator’s Grandfather’, now arrived at Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s open-air museum. This is the first Soviet tank fire support combat vehicle that was designed at Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant back in the eighties, the company press service says. This vehicle and the one developed at Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Ural Transport Machine-Building Design Office serve the same purpose but differ dramatically in their design. Exhibit 781 was never produced on a serial scale. For many years, it was used for tests and trials as

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 24, 2017. Miners from EVRAZ Holding’s Raspadskaya Coal Company’s Uskovskaya Mine started working on new long face 50-08 with over 1.8m tons of GZh coke reserves, EVRAZ Holding Siberia’s Corporate Relations Center reports. ‘The miners did over 3,500 meters worth of excavation work as well as some assembly jobs and performed capital mining operations to prepare the long face. Thanks to the smart technical solutions we relied on, it was possible to re-assemble the mining equipment quickly and get the new long face commissioned for the operation and maintenance phase in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, May 24, 2017. EVRAZ Holding held its 3d charity corporate race in Nizhniy Tagil recently, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Center reports. The sports event was dedicated to the holding’s 25th anniversary this year and was joined in by some 5,000 residents of Kachkanar, Yekaterinburg, Nizhniy Tagil, and Nizhniy Tagil suburbia. ‘Around a thousand runners, including some three hundred children, ran the race on the city’s central streets. Six-year-olds were the youngest racers in the event, while this year’s oldest participants are about to turn eighty. Every runner