UrBC, Moscow, February 6, 2017. The average monthly rent for a Sverdlovsk Region-based country cottage declined by 4%, down to 68,710 RUR, in the course of 2016; this is now the country’s fifth largest figure, Mir Kvartir reports. The country’s average amounted to 32,580 RUR last year, which was below the figures for the year 2015 by 6.3%. According to Mir Kvartir, only in eight Russian constituencies out of sixty-one die the rental prices actually go up; in fifty-three constituencies, these dropped. Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Moscow and Leningrad Regions are predictably at the top of the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 6, 2017. Yekaterinburg’s Koltsovo Airport Customs officers found 408 units of face cream a passenger arriving from Istanbul had in his luggage, the customs’ press service reports. ‘An Egyptian national was carrying 33.5 kg of ‘miracle-working’ creams by a famous brand, with inscriptions in both English and Arabic. Despite choosing the ‘nothing to declare’ channel, the passenger seemed suspicious to the economic security officers and had his luggage inspected with the help of special devices. The man admitted the creams were meant for sale and not for personal

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 6, 2017. 50m RUR will get allocated from Sverdlovsk Region’s budget funds for the construction of Ural High-Speed Rail before March 10, 2017, Chelyabinsk Region Government’s website states. The news was announced at Sverdlovsk Region Government’s recent meeting on a prospective high-speed rail link connecting Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg. The meeting attendees agreed on a roadmap on how their constituency would enter the joint venture Ural High-Speed Rail, which is to be controlled by both Sverdlovsk Region and Chelyabinsk Region Governments. Also, several

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 3, 2017. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Omsktransmash took forty-three students of Omsk Armored Vehicle Engineering Institute in for an internship, the company press service reports. ‘The students now have three weeks to put their theoretical expertise in Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair to practice. They had an induction workshop on their first day on the site, as well as a brief lecture on the plant’s history at the company museum; they also took a look at all the major production departments. The interns were then streamlined into groups and sent off to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 3, 2017. A firefighting and prevention plan for the year 2017 was recently adopted at Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant, the company press service reports. ‘This is something we do on a regular basis in order to increase the firefighting capacity of our head plant’s facilities and to meet the state firefighting surveillance authorities’ requirements,’ the press service says. This year, the plant will invest in new firefighting automatic equipment and fire alarm systems at thirty different divisions. The company will also get new fire extinguishers, rubber

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 3, 2017. EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) delivered its new type of sheet piles to customer in Volgograd Region; the piles will be used to repair Sluice 5 of Severnaya Dvina Sluice System, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s press office reports. The plant made and shipped to customer around 2,000,000 kg of 5UM Larssen sheet piles and 40Sh1 I-beams. ‘These are new on the Russian market and, stronger than their earlier counterparts, and can compete with the European heavy-duty sheet piles and pipe piles. This new addition to our product range

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 3, 2017. Sinara Group’s Sinara Development had 119,000 m2 worth of new housing in Yekaterinburg and Volgograd commissioned last year, Sinara Group’s press service reports. An extension to Krylov, a business class condominium next to Central Stadium in Yekaterinburg, got commissioned alongside two apartment buildings in Shirokaya Rechka. All in all, Sinara Development put up some 95,000 m2 worth of new housing in Yekaterinburg last year. As for Volgograd, the developer is now selling homes in Aquarelle, an apartment building in Krasnooktyabrsky District, and the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 3, 2017. SKB-Bank was among Sverdlovsk Region’s top five banks in terms of deposit portfolio volume, the bank’s press service refers to Kommersant Publishing as stating. The bank is currently Russia’s 30th largest bank with great customer service and appealing deposit terms. Private customers have deposited 74.9bn RUR with SKB-Bank so far, which is 5bn RUR more than the figures Kommersant quoted on October 1, 2016.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 2, 2017. The wheel department at EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (NTMK) now works longer hours, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s press office reports. ‘We took on an extra team of people for the wheel treatment section in order to meet our Russian customers’ rising demand. This will increase our wheel machining output and the entire department’s productivity. The output increase is expected to reach 20%,’ the press office says. The plant also keeps working to improve its production processes and wheel machining techniques as well as to make its

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 2, 2017. Ural Airlines launched a plane seat replacement campaign, which means all customers will soon be able to enjoy the modern and comfortable Dragon Fly seats made by Zodiac Seats France, the air carrier’s press service reports. One of the company’s Airbus 320 aircraft was the first airplane to get improved Economy Class seats. Business Class seats were also partially replaced or repaired to ensure more comfort during flight. The other planes will get new seats installed during their scheduled C checks and D checks at the airline’s Aviation Maintenance

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 2, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s customers spent over 936m RUR on season’s shopping on December 15-31, 2016, which is comparable with the figures for December 2015. ‘However, last year’s figures were also 10% below those for the December 2014. Also, UBRD debit card holders spent 13.5m RUR on beauty industry services, which was nearly 50% less than in December 2015,’ the bank’s press service reports. The amount of money spent at restaurants and cafes (176.5m RUR) went down by 10%, that directed to buying clothing and footwear items

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 2, 2017. Sverdlovsk Region’s retail trade turnover amounted to 1,054.2 trillion RUR in January-December 2016, which was 5.5% below the figures for the year 2015, Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Economy & Territorial Development refers to Sverdlovskstat as stating. The catering industry’s turnover reached 51.8bn RUR, which was 16.4% less than in the year 2015 (56bn RUR).

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 2, 2017. Yekaterinburg public transport fare rose from 26 RUR to 28 RUR per single trip on February 1, 2017; the decision was made by Sverdlovsk Region Regional Energy Committee on January 13. Yekaterinburg authorities also adjusted the cost of electronic monthly passes (the so-called Ekarta). The price increase will be felt most keenly by people on social welfare benefits, as their monthly pass will now cost as much as 1,000 RUR instead of the usual 426 RUR. At the same time, if they buy a ten-trip pass, this will cost 200 RUR (only 10 RUR more than before), and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 1, 2017. The first B10M2 bulldozer with hydromechanical transmission gear left Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant’s new assembly line, the company press service reports. The bulldozer went through all the assembly stages from getting fitted with caterpillar track unit and attachable units to getting coated and prepared for final shipment to customer. It took the plant very little time to get the new assembly line ready: the setup began in mid-November and was over in slightly more than a month. The line is now located on the site where an

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 1, 2017. EVRAZ Holding’s Yerunakovskaya 8 Mine produced 3,000,000,000 kg of coal last year, EVRAZ Holding Siberia’s press office reports. This production record was made possible due to the entire workforce’s joint efforts, with Alexander Lyane’s and Alexei Korshunov’s teams making a special contribution. ‘Despite the challenging mining and geological conditions and increased gas content in the mine section we are currently working on, Yerunakovskaya 8 remains the production leader. Alexei Korshunov’s team processed 460 meters worth of rock mass last December,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 1, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) opened yet another branch for private customers in Saint Petersburg. Komendantsky Branch can be found at 1 Ilyushin St Bldg 1. According to the bank’s press service, the opening hours are from 9:30 AM to 8 PM on weekdays and from 11 AM to 5 PM on Saturdays. Private customers can apply for loans and debit/credit cards, make money orders, and set up deposits and current accounts there. The branch pertains to the so-called street retail format: a mini-outlet with no cash desk and only an ATM/payment

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 1, 2017. SKB-Bank was rated Yekaterinburg’s third best bank based on customer feedback, the bank’s press service refers to spavin.ru’s rating as stating. SKB-Bank also proved Russia’s eighth best bank. The web portal sravni.ru comes up with rating estimates based on three key criteria: customer complaints/retail turnover ratio, the average score customers provide in their feedback, and the bank’s reply to queries/customer queries and complaints ratio.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, February 1, 2017. Rosselkhoznadzor, customs, and Federal Security Service officers confiscated and destroyed 2,757 kg of sanctioned fruit and vegetables in Yekaterinburg today. According to Rosselkhoznadzor’s Sverdlovsk Region division’s press service, import-embargoed foods were found at Warehouse 4 during a pop-up inspection. Crates full of napa cabbage (1,134 kg) and apples (180 kg) were marked as coming from Poland and those full of pears were marked as coming from Guinea over Belarus, which is against the existing regulations. There were also 423 kg of cauliflower of

UrBC, Moscow, January 31, 2017. The number of construction companies on the private housing co-operative market (Federal Act 214-FZ) that went bust doubled and reached 1.8% last year compared with the year 2015, Kommersant refers to RASK as stating. According to RASK, 149 companies out of 5,500 ones currently operating on the market are undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. The insolvent companies are leaving behind some 4.5m m2 worth of incomplete housing projects. Many of the developers are forced to declare themselves insolvent since they cannot get their projects commissioned: loans are

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 31, 2017. Sverdlovsk Region-based customers owe their electric power supplier EnergoSbyt Plus more than 14.3bn RUR in unpaid bills, the company press service reports. The overall debt amount exceeded 7.5bn RUR in early 2017, rising by 700m RUR in the course of one year; electric power debt exceeded 6.8bn RUR. ‘The power supplier is faced with the need to protect its interests and the interests of paying customers by all possible means. 1,111 claims (total amount: 4.908bn RUR) were placed with Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court last year, of which 583 claims