UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 2, 2017. Pipe Metallurgical Company’s (TMK) Sinara Pipe Plant (SinTZ) held its annual meeting of the Group’s Tech & Quality Services at the plant, the company press service reports. The meeting was chaired by TMK Deputy Director-General and Senior Engineer Alexander Klachkov. Over sixty managers and experts from the company’s Russian, European, and American divisions as well as from TMK Trading House attended. ‘The meeting participants looked in the pipe market situation last year and tried to come up with the forecasts for the year 2017; the also talked about

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 1, 2017. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant’s museum facility is currently hosting 21st Century Art, an exhibition featuring presents given to the company by its Russian and international partners, the company press service reports. These are all gifts presented to Ural Vagon Zavod after the year 2000. There are some sixty exhibits altogether, including arts and crafts works, paintings, sculptures, and autographed books. ‘The exhibition is an opportunity to see paintings executed in all kinds of styles and techniques, with every piece presenting a unique

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 1, 2017. Lastochka Premium ES2GP, an electric train made by Ural Locomotives (Sinara Group and Siemens’s joint venture), was issued a certificate of compliance with the Customs Union’s technical requirements, Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. ‘The wintertime tests were carried out in December 2016, with test results considered at an Intergovernmental Committee meeting; the train was then issued a certificate of compliance in February 2017. Premium proved even more efficient during the tests than the existing regulations required. For one, its dynamic and strength

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 1, 2017. ChTPZ Group and Severstal held their 21st coordination meeting in Chelyabinsk, the Group’s press service reports. The meeting was attended by representatives of the two companies’ production, technological, and commercial departments. The parties looked into their joints performance results, their supply policy, and possible ways of future cooperation. ‘This year, ChTPZ Group and Severstal intend to keep sharing their experience of working within large-scale international projects, their intellectual property management practices, and their customer service

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 1, 2017. Rosatom Corporation is going to pay nearly 1.5 times more taxes to Sverdlovsk Region’s budget funds this year. A cooperation agreement to this effect was signed by Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev and Rosatom’s Deputy Director-General for Economic Analysis and Planning Sergey Novikov at the Russian Investment Forum in Sochi. According to the corporation’s preliminary forecasts, 4.3bn RUR worth of additional payments will be directed to Sverdlovsk Region’s budget this year. This means some 900m RUR can be allocated for the development of local

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 1, 2017. Over 900m RUR were paid to Sverdlovsk Region’s budget as the shadow market of migrant labor grew legally visible last year. This is 1.2 times more than one year previously, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s website states. According to the local division of Russia’s Federal Migration Service, 911.5m RUR were directed to their budget funds in 2016 from income tax paid by foreign workers employed here on a patent. 766m RUR were meant for Sverdlovsk Region’s budget and 145.5m RUR were meant for city budgets. Sverdlovsk Region Finance Ministry says the overall

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 28, 2017. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant coordinated a special Heroes’ Race on Defender of the Fatherland’s Day, the company press service reports. Fifty-nine teams comprising workers of the head plant and the corporation’s member enterprises Ural Transport Machine-Building Design Office and UVS Media Service as well as the corporation’s partners’ teams took part in the race. In addition, eleven two-people teams competed in the pair race. 317 people joined the race altogether. There were five contestants, both male and female, in the regular teams, and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 28, 2017. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) had its foundry department retooled and upgraded, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s press office reports. The new equipment installed at the department will result in a 10% drop in natural gas consumption and a 6% drop in metal spending. ‘The department operates under a new scheme now, with a preparatory section with an up-to-date semi-automatic belt saw and an upgraded boring machine for making center holes. It now takes just one operator to supervise the process. The operator’s job is to load the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 28, 2017. The overall amount of Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises’ accounts payable amounted to 916.6bn RUR in late December 2016, of which 70.9bn RUR (7.7%) were overdue, Sverdlovskstat reports. The amount of accounts payable increased by 1.7% in the course of one year, that of overdue A/P rose by 6.2%. 86.7% of these payments stem from debts to suppliers and contractors for their respective goods and services. 13% of these debts (61.4bn RUR) are already past-due. The accumulated amount of Russian companies’ accounts payable and loan debt exceeded 2 trillion

UrBC, Moscow, February 28, 2017. Russia’s Finance Ministry is planning to go through with a bond issue aimed at private customers this year, with face value at 1,000 RUR per bond, Rossiyskaya Gazeta refers to a draft bill carried by the ministry as stating. The idea is to make it easier for Russians to invest in state bonds and to come up with a special, reduced-risk and easier-to-buy federal bond issue. Under the terms of the bond issue and circulation, these are not meant to be resold; however, the holders will be able to get their money back any time before the redemption deadline at no

UrBC, Moscow, February 28, 2017. Russia’s Central Bank will keep working on the national banking sector’s financial recovery and some 10% of banks and other lending institutions are likely to get their licenses annulled, banki.ru refer to the Analytical Credit Rating Agency’s report on the Russian banking sector in 2017-2020 as stating. Under the Bank of Russia’s Head Elvira Nabiullina, who assumed office in the summer of 2013, the number of Russian banks has dropped by nearly a third in the last three years. There are around some 600 banks operating in the country at the moment. Nabiullina

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 27, 2017. New steam boilers got launched at Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ), the company press service reports. ‘The boilers provide all the steam necessary for the plant’s moulding department and help take the entire production process to a new level. This is really important, as the parts made at the department are then used for making engines for civilian and military vehicles,’ the press service says. According to the plant’s Diesel Engine Department’s Senior Engineer Sergey Kalashnikov, steam used to be provided centrally

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 27, 2017. Workers of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant who’ve been with the company for over a year are going to get an end-of-year bonus for 2016, the plant’s press service reports. This was made possible due to the plant meeting all the target production figures for last year. In fact, this is the first time since 2013 that an end-of-year bonus can be paid. The bonus will amount to an employee’s regular monthly salary depending on the number of days a person actually worked in 2016. Length of service and possible disciplinary problems (or their absence)

UrBC, Moscow, February 27, 2017. A new sculpture will be unveiled in Yekaterinburg’s Akademicheskiy District on Defender of the Fatherland’s Day, RSG-Akademicheskoye’s press service reports. A monument depicting different branches of the Russian Armed Forces - five men representing the Navy, the Airborne Forces, the Aerospace Forces, the Strategic Missile Forces, and the Army - will be opened to the public in Victory Alley. The idea was put forth by Akademicheskiy Management Company and RSG-Akademicheskoye and supported enthusiastically by the local public. ‘The city’s newest section,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 27, 2017. Ural Airlines Wings Club members will now be able to get reduced-price tickets for their Moscow flights, the air carrier’s press service reports. Customers based in Chita, Omsk, Tomsk, Barnaul, and Irkutsk can get 10% off their Moscow flights, while those booking Novosibirsk-Moscow flights can get a 20% discount. The offer holds through March 10, 2017, with flights to be operated between now and April 30, 2017. In addition, Wings Club members also get discounts on other flights as well as special offers from the airline’s partner companies. ‘If you’re

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 27, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) keeps adding new branches to its Saint Petersburg network, the bank’s press service reports. The bank’s third St. Petersburg-based branch Ozerki, a so-called street retail one, opened on Monday, February 20. The office is primarily meant to offer services to private customers. There are no cash/settlement options available, and everything needs to be done with the help of an ATM or a payment terminal. However, there are a number of clerks ready to help, who can open a deposit account you, process

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 22, 2017. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation is taking part in the 13th International Defense Industry Exhibition in Abu Dhabi on February 19-23, 2017, the company press service reports. ‘The company stand features our promising developments, including a full-size model of our 30-mm remotely controlled weapon station. The station is meant for searching for, detecting, and attacking single and group targets at any time of the day. This is the primary weapon used on armored combat vehicles. The unit is fitted with a 30-mm automated gun 2A42 and a 7.63-mm tank gun 6P7K,’

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 22, 2017. EVRAZ Holding’s West-Siberian Integrated Metallurgical Works (ZSMK) embarked on the Year of Environment in Kemerovo Region in the course of a special solemn ceremony, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s press office reports. The event was attended by representatives of the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources, Kemerovo Region Administration, Novokuznetsk Council, environmental organizations, and large industrial enterprises based in Kuzbass. ‘To celebrate the occasion, two hose-filter gas and dust removal facilities got launched at ZSMK’s sintering

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 22, 2017. Over 265,000,000 kg of pipes made at ChTPZ Group’s Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant were sold from the Group’s warehouse last year; the company’s share of the spot market thus came to 32%, the Group’s press service reports. The company opened its 14th warehouse in Bataysk, Rostov Region, in May 2016, selling some 4,000,000 kg of pipes from there in the following seven months. A special focus was also made on customer service improvement last year. ‘My Account’ option was introduced for freight forwarders on the company’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 22, 2017. Sverdlovsk Region is no longer on the list of Russia’s top ten federal constituencies with highest living standards; the region is now in the 12th position in the rating for 2016, RIA Novosti states. Just like in the previous years, Moscow and Saint Petersburg are the top two places to live, followed by Moscow Region, Tatarstan, Krasnodar Territory, Belgorod Region, Voronezh Region, Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region, and Lipetsk Region. Tyumen Region is No. 10 for the year 2016 (one position higher than before), and Kaliningrad Region is No. 11