UrBC, Moscow, October 29, 2019. MegaFon is going to introduce a custom-designed flat rate package for the Wild Animals Rehabilitation Center based on the specifics of migratory birds’ seasonal travel, the telecom company’s press service says. The decision was made after a female eagle named Min unexpectedly ended up in Iran and started sending out text messages about its location (costly because of the international roaming fees) back to the Center. Now Russian ornithologists normally fit their eagles and falcons with trackers that can send a bird’s location information back to the center:

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 29, 2019. Ural Airlines will be operating flights on a winter schedule through March 28, 2019, the air carrier’s press service reports. New London flights are the upcoming season’s most special feature. The flights will get operated from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport four times a week starting December 20. Thanks to a range of connecting flights to choose from, passengers traveling from other parts of Russia and cities in the CIS member states can get to London as well. The airline is also launching Zhukovsky-Amsterdam flights starting October 30. New

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 29, 2019. Over a hundred employees of EVRAZ Holding are going to compete in the blue-collar job championship WorldSkills Hi Tech at Yekaterinburg Expo on October 28-November 1, 2019, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Communications Center reports. ‘This year, EVRAZ team will compete in twelve different categories: Mechatronics, Welding Technologies, Wiring, Industrial Automation, Lab Chemical Analysis, Sheet Metal Treatment, Nondestructive Testing, Engineering Design, Reverse Engineering, Mobile Robotics, CAD Engineering Design, and Job Safety. EVRAZ Ural+Siberia

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 28, 2019. Mayor of Yekaterinburg Alexander Vysokinsky joined the local coordination committee for the 32d World Summer Universiade 2023; the executive order to this effect was signed by Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev. According to Yekaterinburg Council’s website, Governor Kuivashev is the committee's, Chair, with Vice Governor Alexei Orlov, Mayor of Yekaterinburg Alexander Vysokinsky, and Rector of Ural Federal University Viktor Koksharov acting as Vice Chairs. The committee also comprises heads of Sverdlovsk Region’s government bodies, mayors

UrBC, Moscow, October 28, 2019. The Central Bank of Russia’s Board of Directors cut the key rate by 50 bp down to 6.5% p.a., the bank’s website states. ‘Inflation slowdown is overshooting the forecast. Inflation expectations continue to decrease. The Russian economy’s growth rate still remains subdued. Risks of a substantial global economic slowdown persist. Disinflationary risks exceed pro-inflationary risks over the short-term horizon. In these circumstances, the Bank of Russia has lowered its annual inflation forecast for 2019 from 4.0-4.5% to 3.2-3.7%. Given the monetary policy stance,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 28, 2019. Russia’s Construction Minister Vladimir Yakushev is going to take part in the UN-Habitat World Cities Day celebrations in Yekaterinburg. Yakushev will give a talk on comprehensive urban development and new quality of urban life, the town council’s website states. Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Nikolai Tsukanov, China’s Deputy Minister for Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev, and Mayor of Yekaterinburg Alexander Vysokinsky will also attend the event.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 28, 2019. The price of motor fuel went up on Sverdlovsk Region’s market on October 14-20, 2019 against one week earlier. According to Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service’s Sverdlovsk Region division, the price of AI 92 (3) rose by RUB 0.1 (from RUB 41.94 to RUB 42.04 per liter), while the price of AI 95 rose by RUB 0.12 (from RUB 44.81 to RUB 44.93). The price of diesel fuel increased by RUB 0.7 (from RUB 45.96 to RUB 46.43 per liter). The price of liquefied natural gas went down by RUB 0.05 (from RUB 19.29 to RUB 19.24 per liter).

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 28, 2019. ChelPipe Group’s employees, students on the Group’s Future of White-Coated Metallurgy Corporate Training Program, and schoolchildren from the Training Center’s tech clubs will all take part in the 6th nationwide WorldSkills Hi Tech blue-collar job championship. According to ChelPipe Group’s press service, the company team comprises 23 contestants and 19 experts; the former will compete in thirteen different categories in both the primary section and the Future Skills section. For the first time this year, the championship participants will compete in

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 25, 2019. Gorod Pervykh volunteers installed signposts and information stands on the path leading to Didinsky Tunnel, a popular local tourist attraction. There are now eight signs directing you to Mount Belaya and the tunnel’s western and eastern portals, and three stands with information about the landmarks. According to ChelPipe Group’s press service, their member enterprise Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) supported the NGO Gorod Pervykh by covering the cost of the signposts and stands and of the volunteers’ transfer to the site. ‘These new navigation signs

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, October 25, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) is going to host the Magnitogorsk section of Best Available Blast Furnace Techniques Conference coordinated by Russian Steel Association, the International Blast Furnace Workers’ Union, Metally Evrazii magazine, and Russia’s Industry & Trade Ministry. According to MMK’s Information & PR Department, the first part of the conference was held in Moscow yesterday. Russia’s leading metallurgical companies’ representatives and metallurgical industry experts looked into issues relating to the application of the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 25, 2019. OOO FORES is going to support the fourth, and final, stage of an autocross championship in Sukhoi Log, Sverdlovsk Region, on October 26, 2019. The event takes place on the eve of the Motor Vehicle Industry Workers’ Day, FORES’s press service reports. ‘Several employees of FORES’s Sukhoi Log branch, as well as a number of other contestants from Sverdlovsk Region, Perm Territory, and Moscow Region, are going to compete in the race. The final performances of UAZ off-road vehicles and ZIL and GAZ trucks are bound to be quite spectacular. The racers will have

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 25, 2019. MegaFon Ural’s online store gets about a hundred orders placed by customers every day; the demand for earphones and hands free sets has been going up steadily in the last few months and is now 1.5 times higher than one year earlier, the telecom company’s press service reports. ‘Our Urals-based customers tend to send and receive voice messages increasingly more often and are now watching more videos than ever, and all of this 24/7. This naturally affects the way customer demand looks like. In addition to smartphones, earphones and hands free sets are now

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, October 25, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) completed the first stage of a large-scale program to introduce a single Oracle R12-based information system within the company, MMK’s Information & PR Department reports. The corporate information system (CIS) is now at work at MMK Group’s repair and maintenance unit MMK United Service Company and the leading Russian metal goods manufacturer MMK METIZ. The two companies started benefiting from the increased production process transparency and improved decision-making opportunities within the very first months

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 24, 2019. Head of Beam-Rolling Department at EVRAZ Holding’s Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ NTMK) Dmitri Kavun received the Honored Rolling Mill Operator Badge during the 12th Rolling Mill Operators’ Congress in Vyksa, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Communications Center’s PR Department reports. The awards get distributed by the NGO Rolling Mill Operators’ Union. The badges are given to Russia’s best rolled metal goods industry workers who contributed greatly to the country’s development. Dmitri Kavun has been working at his department for

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 24, 2019. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) is offering its customers refinancing options at a reduced rate of 8.5% a year starting October 21. According to the bank’s website, you can apply for any amount between RUB 100,000 and RUB 1.5m, with the repayment period ranging from two to seven years. You can apply for as many loan refinancing programs as you like. Applicants who have their paycheck account with the UBRD can also apply for the options without any proof of income. The UBRD started refinancing loans issued by other banks as early

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 24, 2019. ChelPipe Group tested a new digital solution meant to improve the safety and quality of their pipe delivery process this month. This was part of the Group’s research/tech partnership with Gazprom Neft. According to ChelPipe’s press service, the solution ensures satellite-based monitoring of the order shipped to customer. A pilot shipment of 40,000 kg of pipes, fitted with control sensors made at ChelPipe Group’s Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ), got sent to Gazprom Neft’s oil deposits in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region – Yugra. ‘ChelPipe Group and

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, October 24, 2019. MMK Group’s MMK InformService is going to present its new e-document flow and RPA solutions at Open Innovations Forum 2019. ‘Skolkovo Center is hosting Moscow International Open Innovations 2019 Forum this month; this year’s program is a synthesis of three key components: technologies, economics, and humans,’ MMK’s Information & PR Department reports. During the forum, MMK InformService will be featuring its Atach e-document flow developments and robotic process automation solutions; the company’s RPA Competence & Innovations Center has designed

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 24, 2019. The Federal Service for Supervision of Nature Resources (Rosprirodnadzor) started its scheduled audit of OOO FORES on October 23, 2019, the company’s press service reports. ‘There are over thirty auditors, including a number of officials from Nizhniy Tagil and experts from the certified Centre of Laboratory Analysis and Technical Metrology in Ural Federal District, to complete the inspection,’ the press service says. The federal state environmental surveillance audit is meant to determine whether the company manages to comply with the Russian

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, October 23, 2019. Ural Airlines’ Zhukovsky-Amsterdam-Zhukovsky flights are now on sale, the air carrier’s press service reports. The flights will get operated every Wednesday and Saturday starting October 30, 2019. Departure (Zhukovsky): 11:15 AM Arrival (Amsterdam): 12:45 PM Departure (Amsterdam): 1:45 PM Arrival (Zhukovsky): 7:05 PM Prices for Zhukovsky-Amsterdam flights start from RUB 3,720 (one way) and from RUB 8,549 (there and back). Prices for Amsterdam-Zhukovsky flights start from RUB 4,829 (one way) and from RUB 8,549 (there and back), all fees included. Tickets

UrBC, Chelyabinsk, October 23, 2019. First Freight Company’s Chelyabinsk branch handled 477,000,000 kg of cargo in hopper railcars in January-September 2019, which exceeded the figures for one year earlier by 26%. According to First Freight Company’s Corporate Communications Department, the increase has to do with a more personalized approach to working with cargo owners and with an inflow of new customers. The overall shipments of cement, industrial raw stuffs and molding materials, and refractory goods went up the most, that is, by 48% (up to 310,000,000 kg), by nearly 300% (up to