February 1, 2016. It has been suggested that Vasenin, a documentary sponsored by Russian Copper Company, should be part of UNESCO Memory of the World Programme and placed on the World Heritage List, the film sponsor reports. The motion picture, created by a young film crew from the Urals, centers on Nikolai Vasenin, a veteran of both world wars and an honorary citizen of Berezovsky, Sverdlovsk Region. The film premiered in 2015, around the V-Day 70th anniversary, and received both the cinematic community and the viewers’ acclaim. Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov, the TV

UrBC, Moscow, January 29, 2016. The Russian car manufacturer AvtoVAZ is going to cut its workers’ wages by 20%, Kommersant reports. ‘The pay will go down by 20% starting from February 15. Also, some 5,000 employees have already been switched to social work,’ President Bo Andersson said. It is explained the decision was taken since AvtoVAZ switches to a four-day week on February 15. The company’s BOD decided in November 2015 that production optimization and job cuts through natural decline were necessary. AvtoVAZ also warned that a shortened week or switching some workers to social work were

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 29, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region is facing flu medicine and protective supplies shortage. According to Tagilsky Rabochiy, all pharmacies in Nizhniy Tagil’s Gornozavodskoy District are out of oxolinic ointment; medical face masks are out in short supply. Additionally, there are not enough flu medicines available. ‘Just a few kinds have been proven to fight and prevent flu, including Tamifiu; this particular brand isn’t cheap and costs around 2,000 RUR. Our pharmacies are already out of it and are only expected to get some in stock early next week,’ head of the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 29, 2016. Students from N.A.Demidov Nizhniy Tagil State Vocational School complain their monthly scholarships did not come in time. Ves Tagil reports their January allowances still haven’t been distributed; this affected orphaned underage students particularly badly. ‘They say the money will only come at the end of February, and I just don’t know what to do. Don’t they care at all, how are students with no parents supposed to get by?’, one of the students said. The school management admitted the funding was running late. The school director Svetlana Morozova says

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 29, 2016. Three representatives of Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation are going to become members of Nizhniy Tagil Public Chamber. The company press service reports the candidates – Svetlana Aldushina and Vladimir Danilkin from the corporation’s youth club and Director of UBT-Ekologia – were supported by Nizhniy Tagil Duma deputies. Also, Mayor Sergei Nosov suggested six candidates himself, including Chair of Ural Vagon Zavod’s trade union Evgeny Lutokhin. This is the first time this Public Chamber is called in Nizhniy Tagil; there will be eighteen members there all in

UrBC, Moscow, January 29, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region’s employers failed to pay their workers a total of 8.4m RUR in wages and salaries in time, Rosstat reports. In Russia on the whole, the figure came to 3.572bn RUR. 32% of the overall amount is owed by employers in the processing industries, 26% by those in the transport sector, 23% by those in the construction industry, 6% by those in the fossil industry, and 5% by those in the agricultural, hunting, and timber industries. On average, 24% of the overall delayed amount was the workers’ last month’s pay; this figure came to as much as 49% in the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 28, 2016. 159 people were killed in road accidents in Sverdlovsk Region this winter, head of the local road police department Yuri Demin announced at an off-site Cabinet meeting in Kamyshlov. Demin said 1,054 accidents occurred in the Mid-Urals over the given period, with 1,387 casualties all in all. The official believes the poor condition of local roads was the main reason for so many accidents this winter. He feels the municipal and constituency road maintenance services are at fault. Local officials actually admitted last year that they did not manage to

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 28, 2016. Consumer goods and services grew 14% on Sverdlovsk Region’s market last year, Sverdlovskstat reports. Food items grew 16.1% more expensive; taken without alcohol items, the price increase was 17.2% (compared with 16.1% in 2014). Fish, pasta/grains, milk and dairy products, bread and pastries, and meat prices rose by 25.3%, 19.7%, 12.9%, 10.3%, and 9.7%, respectively. The price of fruit and vegetables (including potatoes) went up by an average of 26% (+33.2% for citrus and other fruits, +25.2% for vegetables, and -28.7% for potatoes). The non-food items

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 28, 2016. 500 kg of embargoed food items had to be destroyed in Sverdlovsk Region last year, deputy head of Rosselkhoznadzor’s local division Svetlana Terekhova said at a press conference today. According to Terekhova, ninety food raids were carried out in 2015 where it was impossible to determine where the food items had come from. Under the existing regulations, such foods had to be - and were - destroyed. All in all, there were 480 food smuggling attempts in 2015, including 230 in Koltsovo Airport’s customs point and 277 related to Customs Union internal

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 28, 2016. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) designed and manufactured its first 50,000 kg of casings with special-purpose premium threaded joints ChT-HT. The new 168.3x8.9 mm pipes (Strength grade E) were made at the plant’s OCTG Finishing Center. The company press service says the new joints are especially suited for installing a casing in a horizontal or otherwise unusual well through a series of revolving/pivoting motions. The special licensed software ANSYS was used to design the joints and do the necessary strength calculations.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 28, 2016. Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation started making 25-ton strong railcar axles VA 002 and VA 302 for the European 1,435-mm railways. The Czech certification body VUZ stated the products’ full compliance with the European standards, the company press service reports. The axles are suitable for both regular and high-speed trains on European railways. Ural Vagon Zavod sees Europe as a promising sales market: the company has already got a contract for 4,000 VA 002 axles. A pilot batch of 350 items will be shipped to customer in mid-February. Entering a new market

UrBC., Moscow, January 27, 2016. Russian banks’ overall balance profits reached 191.965bn RUR in 2015, which was three times less than in 2014 (589.141bn RUR), Finmarket refers to the Central Bank as stating. The profit figures actually came to 263.694bn in the eleven months of 2015, so in December, Russian banks lost 71.729bn RUR. In fact, only 553 Russian banks (71.5%) were actually making profit as of January 1, 2016. According to the Bank of Russia’s data, the number of profit-making banks rose by 29 in the month of December, while 180 banks (24.6%) incurred losses; this figure was 32

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 27, 2016. The number of job-seekers on Yekaterinburg labor market rose by 34% last year, while the number of job openings went up by 19%, HeadHunter’s research team reports. People looking for jobs in the Blue Collar segments proved the market’s most active category in the early 2016 (the number of submitted CVs went up by 85%), followed by those looking for jobs in Administration (+66%), Automobile Industry (+50%), Development & Real Estate (+48%), and Security (+47%). ‘Quite a few people make a New Year resolution of finding a new job, so candidates have

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 27, 2016. Deputy Mayor of Yekaterinburg for Urban Development, Transport, & Infrastructure Evgeniy Lipovitch called a meeting on January 25 to consider purchasing new road-clearing vehicles. The city council reports it was decided that enough money should be allocated for each of the local depots to buy one tractor with a set of attachments for summer and winter clean-ups. The auction for bidders willing to sell the vehicles to the city council will be opened this week; the new tractors will be used this year already. In the meantime, the city’s depots

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 27, 2016. 49% of Yekaterinburg residents who took part in a recent survey said the pay from their primary employers had gone down in 2015, Zarplata.ru and E1. Rabota’s research findings indicate. 61% of respondents in this category said their pay had declined by around 30%, 22% said the decrease was 30% to 50%, and every one in five (18%) said their pay had shrunk by over 50%. 37% of those surveyed said their income had remained the same, while salaries of 14% of respondents actually went up by 10% to 30% (77% of respondents in this category) or as much as 50% or

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 27, 2016. Mayor of Nizhniy Tagil Sergei Nosov met Ural Vagon Zavod Corporation’s trade union activists to look at last year’s achievements and this year’s plans and to answer the workers’ questions. The company press service reports the mayor pointed to reconstruction of the city’s D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak Drama Theater, the construction of Presidentsky Sports Palace, the renovation of the Tagil Lagoon Embankment, the repairs of a bridge in Frunze St, and new housing projects as the previous year’s major events. These projects kept on going despite inadequate funding.

UrBC, Moscow, January 26, 2016. Whereas Russians used to try to spend less money on clothes and food items six years ago, now they are forced to opt for less expensive vacations and entertainment, National Bureau of Financial Research (NAFI) states. People are apparently not prepared to cut their education investments or try to save money on housing bills. The number of those who can afford not to cut back on their spending has remained at 11% to 12% over the last six years. Nadezhda Khvylya-Olinter of Moscow State University and Sulakshin Center says people’s general feelings about the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 26, 2016. The overall number of new mortgages issued in Sverdlovsk Region came to 34,847 last year, which was 23.1% less than one year earlier (45,322), deputy head of Rosreyestr local division Larisa Gashkova said at a press conference. ‘Also, the number of contracts in the private building cooperatives sector declined by 11.7%, from 14,471 in 2014 down to 12,775 in 2015. This was brought about by the country’s general economic downfall,’ she said. According to Gashkova, the number of people who registered their property rights over housing within building

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 26, 2016. Prices went down by 2.6% on Sverdlovsk Region new homes market in the last quarter of 2015 compared with the third quarter; prices on the existing homes market declined by 1.5%, Sverdlovskstat reports. New medium-range and higher quality homes grew 5.4% and 1.4% less expensive, respectively, while apartments in the premium class segments grew 1.4% costlier. As for the existing homes market, lower quality and higher quality apartments grew 1.3% and 2.9% less pricey, respectively, while prices of medium-range and premium class homes rose by 0.5% and1.4%,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 26, 2016. Sverdlovsk Region’s industrial production index (IPI) declined by 3.7% in 2015 compared with the year 2014, Sverdlovskstat reports. The figure dropped by 9.1% in the fossil development sector, by 2.9% in the processing industries, and by 0.8% in the sector for production and distribution of electric power, natural gas, and water.