UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 19, 2016. The country’s key refinancing rate was decreased by 0.5% down to 10.5% at Russia’s Central Bank’s last meeting, the bank’s press service reports. ‘The Bank’s Board of Directors voted on September 16, 2016 that the key rate should go down to 10% a year, given the slowing down of the inflation rate (as forecast) and the still unstable economy. At the same time, the bank feels that in order to keep up with the slowing-down trend, the current refinancing rate should remain as it is until the end of the year and possibly go down in next year’s first or

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 19, 2016. The telecommunications provider MegaFon’s official online store welcomes its customers to place preorders for Apple’s new products, iPhone 7 and and iPhone 7 Plus, the company press service reports. iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus were released on September 7; the smartphones have a fully upgraded camera, stereo dynamics, the new A10 Fusion processor that speeds them up impressively, and are dust- and waterproof. ‘As the Russian mobile Internet market leader, we are happy to see that Apple’s new products support high-speed connection. Over 12m people living

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 19, 2016. Yekaterinburg’s Akademichesky District proved Best Area Development Project in the national Pro-Estate Contest, RSG-Akademicheskoye’s press service reports. The awarding ceremony took place for the first time in the course of the 10th International Pro-Estate Forum. The Best Area Development Project category was actually the one with the greatest number of contestants, with fifteen-plus developers submitting their applications. Inteko’s Sadovye Kvartaly and LSR’s Tsvetnoy Gorod were also among the finalists alongside Akademichesky. The forum

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 19, 2016. Ural Airlines are offering a 40% discount on tickets for Moscow-Saint Petersburg and Saint Petersburg-Moscow flights this weekend, the air carrier’s press service says. The offer holds on September 16-18, 2016; tickets can be booked on the company website, via their mobile app UralAirlines, and over the phone. Flights will be operated between October 1 2016 and March 25, 2017. ‘Fall is a busy time for Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The two capitals host business conferences, exhibitions, workshops, and so on. Theaters, operas, and culture organizations

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 19, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s head plant and its member enterprise ChTZ Uraltrac presented their promising developments to Sirius Training Center in Sochi, the company press service reports. ‘The head plant handed over its two-axle truck 18-555 and ChTZ gave the center its exhibition sample of the T Series six-cylinder Diesel engine 6T370. The two products will now make part of Sirius’s permanent exhibition and will serve to educate high school and college students as well as promote interest in machine-building and vehicle-manufacturing industries,’

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 16, 2016. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s Holistic Risk Management Director Dmitri Zavyalov is confident the Central Bank won’t let the refinancing rate decline by any more than 0.5%. ‘Russia’s inflation rate has been gradually going down for the last few months, from 7.5% in June down to 6.9% in August, for example. People’s inflation expectations are also changing. Based on the Central Bank’s August 2016 report, the number of survey respondents who expect the inflation to slow down next year rose by 2%, up to 18% altogether. At the same

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 16, 2016. Ural Airlines are introducing a new Yekaterinburg-Tbilisi flight on October 31, 2016. The flight will be available throughout the entire winter season. According to the company press service, prices start from 130 euros (one way) and 260 euros (round trip), excluding the fees. Flights will be operated every Monday on the European concern Airbus’s liners that have both Economy and Business seat options. ‘Georgia is a great place to go any time of the year. The long (sun)bathing season means you can go for a plunge in the sea even in late fall. Snow, on

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 16, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s Kamensk-Uralsky Foundry Plant (KULZ) is going to have a warplane from the eighties installed at the plant entrance, the company press service reports. ‘A SU-17 will be mounted on a pedestal to become both the plant’s and the city’s landmark. The plane parts that are currently lying around waiting to be put together are already getting lots of attention from passers-by and neighboring plants’ workers,’ the press service says. The plane parts, delivered in several installments from a military unit in Orenburg Region, are

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 16, 2016. Rosset’s Federal Grid Company got fourteen of its 110-kilowatt and 220-kilowatt voltage transformer sets replaced with new ones at Urengoy, a 220-kilowatt substation in Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Region. Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems Western Siberia’s PR & Media Center reports the replacement resulted in more reliable power supply to the largest oil and gas companies in the area and to the town of Novy Urengoy (population over 110,000 people). ‘Transformer sets got replaced within the framework of the company’s investment program. The

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 16, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation is currently taking part in the international military exhibition Africa Aerospace & Defence at Watercloof military base in Pretoria, SAR (open since September 14). The company press service reports the corporation’s stand features models of products by three of its member enterprises: Ural Vagon Zavod (Nizhniy Tagil), Omsktransmash (Omsk), and Uraltransmash (Yekaterinburg). The corporation is demonstrating its fire support vehicle Terminator, the tanks T-90S and T-72, and the heavy rocket propelled flame thrower

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 15, 2016. Farmers based in Sverdlovsk Region’s Irbit, Sysert, and Shalya Districts are by now fully done with harvesting of grains and pulses, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s website states. All in all, 90% of this year’s grain yield have already been harvested in the area, with 580,000 kg of grains collected for the winter. Also, 85,000,000 kg of potatoes have been harvested off nearly 6,000 hectares of land and stored for the winter. A year earlier, only 15% of all local potatoes had got harvested by September 13, 2015. Farmers keep working on collecting this

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 15, 2016. The international fast food chain McDonald’s reports it will have to lay off 729 employees in Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Region Labor & Employment Department’s press secretary Olga Ruleva informed UrBC. ‘A McDonald’s representative said 729 people would be let go on October 31. It is not clear as of yet just which and how many of Yekaterinburg-based restaurants will close down,’ she said. According to Ruleva, a new employer called Regional Catering Network is willing to take on most of McDonald’s former workers provided they want this new job. Now

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 15, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation presented its produce at the 2nd International Import Substitution Exhibition at Moscow’s Crocus City Center on September 13-15. According to the company press service, the exhibition features stands by Russian businesses operating in nearly all economic sectors there are, including machine-building, healthcare, construction, transport, agribusiness, consumer goods, computer developments, hi tech solutiosn for the oil and gas industry, and so on. Ural Vagon Zavod presented five life-size samples at its stand: these were

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 15, 2016. Ural Airlines are now offering their customers a new scheduled flight from Nizhniy Novgorod to Myneralnye Vody and back, the air carrier’s press service reports. Starting from October 4, 2016, tickets will be available for as little as 5,640 RUR (including all fees and charges). The flight will be operated every Tuesday, giving its passengers an opportunity to plan their trips easily and inexpensively and lose no time airport waits. ‘Ural Airlines offer both fast and safe as well as comfortable air transfer. All of the airline’s flights are operated on

UrBC, Moscow, September 15, 2016. ChTPZ Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) launched an additional magnetic particle testing unit to ensure better quality control of OCTG pipes, the company press service reports. The new equipment is meant for testing pipe couplings for defects: these are detected with the help of ferromagnetic particle indicators which point to stray magnetic fields over a defect. The additional testing unit increased the plant’s overall production capacity and cut down on the quality control testing time. The unit cost 50m RUR to buy. Magnetic particle testing is an

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 14, 2016. The oxygen compressor department at EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhiy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Works (EVRAZ NTMK) was built seventy-five years ago this month, the company press service reports. To celebrate the occasion, a special ceremony was held at the plant’s Culture & Arts Center to award the best workers and long-service employees. More than sixty people received thank-you letters and honorary certificates. ‘The department’s function is to ensure uninterrupted supply of air, oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and industrial gases to the plant’s production

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 14, 2016. SKB-Bank is now offering its customers debt refinancing loans that will allow them to merge several loans and credit cards into a single loan, the bank’s press service reports. ‘You can apply for a loan amount that will exceed the debt amount if necessary, and spend the remaining sum at will. The interest rate is fixed for the entire loan period and comes to 22.9% a year, which actually cuts down on the monthly payments,’ the press service says. Example: a customer currently has two consumer loans (500,000 RUR altogether) and has to pay back 10,000 RUR

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 14, 2016. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) is now offering its business customers a new short-term loan, the bank’s press service reports. Borrowers who are new to the bank and have no credit history will be offered a special unsecured loan on the first day their settlement account gets opened. According to UBRD Corporates Development Director Elena Sorvina, the bank’s new offer consists in short-term express loan services (loan period ranges between thirty and ninety days) related to a company’s settlement account. The account owner can

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 14, 2016. The telecommunications provider MegaFon is now working together with the ISP Dom.Ru to save its customers up to 500 roubles a month on telecommunications services, MegaFon’s Marketing Director Leonid Syavkov said at a press lunch recently. ‘The two companies are now offering mobile connection and home Internet connection/digital TV broadcasting in a single package, with a customer provided a 20% discount on both MegaFon’s and Dom.Ru’s services,’ Syavkov is referred to as saying. It is reported the offer holds for all the subscribers who are currently

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, September 14, 2016. Miners from EVRAZ Holding’s Alardinskaya Mine started working on the new long-face 3-39 with an estimated 2,900,000,000 kg of valuable KS coal, the holding’s press service reports. Miners are now working at 325 meters below the ground. To ensure their safety, the site gets ventilated and a gas-suction unit is used to remove the methane-air mixture from the work area. Also, gases get additionally drained from the rock cavity. ‘Some highly productive stoping equipment is used in this mine face, with coal output up to 230,000,000 kg of coal a month. The