UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 17, 2016. Russian Copper Company is going to finance repairs and remodeling of Kindergarten 9 in Karabash, the company press service reports. ‘The building, which houses over ninety children during the day, is now all covered in cracks on the outside, with stucco falling off and window panes almost falling apart. The fifty-year-old kindergarten needs a grand overhaul, but neither the town nor Sverdlovsk Region have the funds for this,’ the press service says. Both the children’s parents and the town council representatives as well the local members of United Russia

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 17, 2016. Ural Airlines transferred 500,000 bonus points (the cost of around fifty Yekaterinburg-Moscow flights) to each of the two charities the company supports, the company press service reports. Both Russian Rusfond and the Konstantin Khabensky Charity Foundation help children with diagnosed illnesses and have been Ural Airlines’ partners in the Wings of Good Project since September 2015.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 17, 2016. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant/PNTZ (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) is going to host the annual Metallinka 2016 Children’s Contest on March 18-20; over three hundred children of metallurgists working for Russia’s major enterprises are going to compete, the Group’s press service reports. The teams of young performers aged eight to eleven are expected to be the event’s main feature. ChTPZ Group is sending its Surprise Band, singer Valeria Ustyuzhanina, and the Galina Krugovaya Ballet Studio to present their best pieces. ‘ChTPZ Group pays special attention

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 17, 2016. Kamensk Uralsky Foundry Plant (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) has produced over 8,000 kg of stuffs for making powder metallurgy parts since its upgraded bedding plant was launched. According to the company press service, this figure is the result of the new charge preparation equipment’s two months in operation. The retooling and upgrades involved the initial section of the powder metallurgy department, which has been around for some five decades. The older units were dismantled and replaced with the more efficient and environmentally

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 16, 2016. Yekaterinburg came fourth in the rating of Russia’s most popular spring break destinations for families with children, Travel.ru states. According to the website, hotel bookings in Yekaterinburg are made for three days on average, for the price of 3,200 RUR per night. The other cities on the top ten list are Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Velikiy Novgorod, Petrozavodsk, Kostroma, Tula, and Sochi. Vyborg, Kolomna, Suzdal, Pereslavl-Zalessky, and Pushkinskiye Gory proved the most popular small towns for family trips. Also, Oktogo.ru says Minsk

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 16, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) received an increased number of customer complaints relating to the quality of personal, financial, medical, and telecommunications services rendered to them last year, the division’s acting head of Consumer Rights Protection Department Olga Kharitonova said at a press conference today. 16,500 complaints were submitted to the organization last year altogether, including 10,000 that were related to consumer rights protection. Most of these complaints had to do with services

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 16, 2016. The Archangel Michael Sports Club in Yekaterinburg welcomed the children supported by Russian Copper Company’s charity fund and the company’s Chair of the BOD Igor Altushkin for a family event on March 12, the company press service reports. The event, dubbed Spring Carousel and dedicated to the coming of the spring and the Mardi Gras celebrations, gathered together over seventy kids and teens aged between 3 and twenty, including twenty-four children from Karabash foster home and children diagnosed with cancer, cardiovascular diseases, hearing problems, and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 16, 2016. Omsktransmash (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) recently underwent an audit that was necessary to start applying for pipeline manufacturing permits, the company press service reports. The plant is now working, among other things, on pipeline lock valves for a number of large Russian enterprises. A technical audit of the company’s overall activity to prepare the plant for licensing and certification was the first stage in the project. The next step was creating a roadmap on personnel training and production preparations. Once these have

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 16, 2016. Electromachine (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) got the international compliance certificate IRIS, the company press service reports. Now Russian Railways, the company’s customer and partner, completed the development of its strategic quality management system last year and adopted a policy of prioritizing suppliers with IRIS certificates. ‘Our company set up an ad hoc team in late 2014 to work towards a certification audit and getting the certificate. In the course of one year, a set of documents necessary for the introduction of a

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 15, 2016. A special ceremony was performed at Tolmachevo Airport’s domestic flights terminal for Ural Airlines’ Novosibirsk-Moscow flight in celebration of the airline’s and Novosibirsk International Airport’s ten-year partnership today, the air carrier’s press service reports. ‘The special date was turned into a memorable event for the passengers of this Flight 99, all of whom received souvenirs and could take part in a prize-winning lottery coordinated by the airline and the airport. Ural Airlines’ first prize (a fully paid flight from Novosibirsk to Moscow and

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 15, 2016. The telecommunications provider MegaFon now makes a special offer to its business customers: companies can now buy high quality telephone and Internet connection equipment for just one ruble, MegaFon’s press service reports. Express Office PRO, a special set of a multi-functional router, a 4G modem, and a DECT telephone, will provide a company with wireless IT infrastructure built from scratch. All the connecting appliances come included. ‘If you are about to set up a new outlet or are moving office, Express Office PRO is probably the best option for a

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 15, 2016. EVRAZ NTMK directed around 500m RUR to labor protection and industrial safety projects as well as to over fifty initiatives on working conditions improvements last year, the company press service reports. For one, sixteen shower rooms and WCs as well as repair mechanics’ rooms, a crane section, and a cafeteria were repaired and remodeled. Also, window panes and roofing were replaced in all the main production departments. ‘The company remains focused on working conditions improvements. In 2015, we had industrial vacuum cleaners and special dust-trapping

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 15, 2016. Burevestnik Central Scientific Research Institute (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) celebrated the 90th birthday of the institute’s first director Lev Plevako, the company press service reports. ‘This was an outstanding person, who was one of the organization’s founding fathers coming from Sergei Korolev’s designer school, and a Great Patriotic War veteran as well. He was chosen to run the institute when the organization was founded in 1970 and remained in office for over two decades, contributing greatly to Burevestnik’s development

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 15, 2016. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant/ChTZ (a member enterprise of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation) supplied its new B11.6000EN bulldozer to Magadan Region, the company press service reports. ‘The machine is already in use at a heat and power station and has proven very efficient. The order was fulfilled after we won MagadanEnergo’s tender for a bulldozer, as Margus, our Magadan dealer, was the winning bidder. The plant shipped the machine, the dealer handed it over to the customer and provided all the startup and installation services and is now in charge of all the

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region, March 14, 2016. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) delivered 86,000,000 kg of metal goods to its customers in the shipbuilding industry last year, which exceeded the figures for a year earlier by nearly 11%, the company reports. In fact, MMK has been increasing its sheep steel output for the second year in a row. In 2014, 37% more produce (78,000,000 kg) got shipped to shipbuilding companies than in 2013. MMK is currently responsible for up to 50% of all the metal goods supplied to customers in the Russian shipbuilding sector. United Shipbuilding

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2016. Over 700 complaints relating to debt collection agencies’ actions were submitted to Sverdlovsk Region’s police last year, head of the Criminal Investigations Department at the Russian Internal Affairs Ministry’s local division Evgeniy Logvinsky said at a press conference. Remarkably, the number of complaints remained under 200 only one year earlier, in 2014. According to Logvinsky, most complaints have to do with collectors’ threats, damage to private property, personal insults, slander, and petty crimes. ‘Despite the growing number of locals’ complaints,

UrBC, Moscow, March 14, 2016. Ural Federal District construction industry’s output was estimated at 663.2bn RUR last year, which was 13.2% less than in the year 2014. In Sverdlovsk Region, the output figures dropped by 15.2%, Sverdlovskstat reports. As it happens, Ural Federal District’s share in the overall construction activity in the country currently comes to 11.2%, with builders and developers most active in Khanty-Mansiysky and Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Districts, whose outputs in the sector amounted to 184.1bn RUR and 181.1bn RUR, respectively. Building materials and products

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2016. The telecommunications provider MegaFon’s subscribers sent or made over 26m texts, voice messages, and calls on International Women’s Day, the company press service reports. ‘Residents from Komi, where an average call lasted more than two minutes, proved the most talkative subscribers in the country, followed by those in Kirov Region and Khanty-Mansiysky and Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Districts,’ the press service says. People living in the Urals sent a record-breaking number of texts, with most of these sent from Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk Regions.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2016. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s corporate loan book rose by 16.6% last year (thanks to, among other things, an increase in the number of issued LCs) and reached 123.5bn RUR on January 1, 2016, the bank’s press service reports. According to the bank’s analysts, the increase mainly had to do with the re-evaluation of the company’s foreign currency assets (27.35% of the bank’s portfolio at the moment). 70% of corporate loans are working capital loans; the UBRD issued almost no investment loans last year due to economic factors. The bank’s

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation adopted a head plant retooling program for the year 2016, the company press service reports. More than 2bn RUR have been allocated for the purpose this year, which is comparable with last year’s figures. This is expected to cover purchase and delivery of up-to-date technological equipment and capital construction costs (the preparations necessary for the installation of and power supply for the new machines). ‘Just like in the previous years, the new equipment will be obtained for all of the head plant’s primary production