March 4, 2015. This year’s first cash smuggling attempt was prevented at Koltsovo Airport of Yekaterinburg, Koltsovo Customs’ press service reports. ‘A Russian citizen flying from Yekaterinburg to Bangkok had over $23,000 (1.483m RUR) worth of cash in his carry-on luggage which he tried to take across the Customs Union border. This is classed as a large-scale smuggling attempt, with charges based on Article 200.1 (Part 1) of the Russian Federation Criminal Code,’ the press service says. Last year, Koltsovo Customs prevented three similar attempts, the total amount of cash being over $126,000.

March 4, 2015. Travelers from the Urals are now making trips to Egypt even less often than people from other parts of Russia, the Executive Director of Ural Tourism Association Mikhail Maltsev told UrBC. RBC refers to Egypt’s statistic-gathering agencies as stating that the inflow of Russian tourists into the country dropped by 12%, or down to 199,500 people, in December 2014. ‘The decrease in the number of Ural travelers to Egypt was higher than Russia’s average last December, since Egypt-bound flights disappeared from Chelyabinsk, Perm, and Tyumen airports altogether, so everyone had to fly

March 4, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region’s debt rose by 47% in 2014 and reached 49.6bn RUR on January 1, 2015, RIA Rating refers to the Russian Finance Ministry and the Federal Treasury as saying. The debt/tax and non-tax revenue ratio changed from 9.6% to 34.8% over last year. All in all, the accumulated government debt of all the Russian federal constituencies increased by 20% in 2014 and came to 2.089 trillion RUR on January 1, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region Finance Minister Galina Kulachenko said earlier that the constituency’s debt would triple by January 1, 2018 and thus amount to 126.4bn RUR due to

March 4, 2015. ChTPZ Engineering (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) presented its new pipes for the oil and gas sector at the 10th Annual Russian Shelf 2015 Conference, the Group’s press service reports. The conference, dedicated to the future of liquefied natural gas and shelf oil development in Russia, is held in Moscow on March 3-4. ‘ChTPZ Group currently has at its disposal the entire set of technologies, equipment, and materials necessary to contribute to construction of oil wells at shelf plates; the company also focuses on the development of new pipes as part of its import

March 4, 2015. In 2014, Uralvagonzavod Corporation directed 4m RUR to help repair and remodel the kindergartens located in Dzerzhinsky District of Nizhniy Tagil; this was twice as much as was donated a year earlier. This year, despite the ongoing crisis, the company will allocate the same amount of money to support the daycare centers, the corporation’s press service reports. There are 32 kindergartens in the area, attended by 5,161 children. Each kindergarten is patronized by one of the corporation’s head plant’s departments or other Nizhniy Tagil-based member enterprises, namely,

March 3, 2015. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ Uraltrac, a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) shipped eight B10MB bulldozers for the construction of an airport in Novaya Zemlya, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘The airport is meant to assist in the development of hydrocarbon deposits in the Arctic shelf plates by providing a reliable aviation link with the continent; our vehicles will help put up the air haven,’ the press service explains. The swamp bulldozers are shipped to the Arctic with the help of the plant’s dealer, Tyumenzapchast. The representatives of the

March 3, 2015. 25 industrial enterprises operating in Sverdlovsk Region could get state subsidies within the framework of the Russian Government’s Anti-Recession Plan very soon, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department states. Companies might get a reimbursement on the amount of interest they pay on loans that were taken out to finance their working capital as well as receive funding that will help them create new jobs and thus ease the labor market tension. ‘These support measures are part of the Russian Government’s Anti-Recession plan. 20bn RUR (the money directed to

March 3, 2015. Tour operators report the demand for foreign travel is on the decrease in Russia. Online searches for trips to various countries dropped by 35%, on average, compared with January 2014, Rossiyskaya Gazeta refers to the Association of Russian Tour Operators as saying. In January 2015, Russian citizens made 2.5m online enquires related to trips abroad; this was 35% less than a year earlier and 28% less than in December 2014. The demand sagged the most for destinations in Europe: these failed to compete with the inexpensive mass-market holiday places, of which Egypt remains the

March 3, 2015. Yekaterinburg is going to join the Largest Russian Flag, Constituency Flag, and City Flag Demonstration Project. According to the city council, hearings on the Arctic 2015 Projects (a part of the 70th V-Day celebrations) will take place at Russia’s Public Chamber on March 5, 2015. ‘The idea behind the project is to collect a set of flags of Russian cities and federal constituencies starting from December 2014. In April, shortly before Victory Day, a gigantic flag will be pieced together to head for the North Pole-based Barneo Ice Camp,’ the city council says. Yekaterinburg

March 3, 2015. Russian banks issued 40% fewer cards in January 2015 compared with the start of 2014; this trend is likely to continue in February, Prime refers to the National Credit History Bureau as stating. 400,000 bank card applications were registered with the Bureau in January, compared with 650,000 a year earlier (-40%). This has been brought about by the banks setting up stricter loan-issuing terms: lending through a bank card is one of the least secured and the riskiest type of lending, so banks are trying to decrease their share in their loan book. This is why the amount of newly

March 2, 2015. Yekaterinburg is going to host Russia’s ice skating championship this year, the city council’s press service refers to Head of Yekaterinburg Council Physical Culture, Sports, & Tourism Department Lyudmila Fitina as saying. According to Fitina, the championship will be held at Uralets Club (90 Bolshakov St) on December 23-28. Yekaterinburg was granted the right to host the championship after competing with Sochi for the privilege.

March 2, 2015. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration court is going to consider an application by Moscow-based Kronika, which insists that Yekaterinburg-based Elmash (UETM) be declared bankrupt; the claim was placed with the court on February 26, 2015. As can be inferred from the case-related materials, the court made Elmash pay Kronika over 13m RUR in September 2014. The defendant did not agree with the court’s ruling and tried to appeal against it, yet the 17th Court of Arbitration & Appeals supported the earlier ruling. Elmash (UETM) was registered as a business on April 28, 2012 and is now

March 2, 2015. The import of strong drinks to Russia went down considerably in January, Interfax refers to the Center for National Alcohol Policy as stating. For one, beer import dropped by a whopping 78%, down to 3.04m liters, while that of champagne and sparkling wines plunged by 48% (down to 1.18m liters) against January 2014. The import of still wines went down by 48% as well, down to 12.48m liters. Additionally, the imports of vodka, liqueurs, and spirits decreased to 1.15m liters, which was 19.4% less than a year earlier; those of cognac, brandy, and grappa declined by 41.2%, down to

March 2, 2105. A group of Russian and Kazakh delegates, headed by Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Boris Dubrovsky and Governor of Kostanai Region Nuraly Saduakasov visited Vysota 239 Department of Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (ChTPZ). A tour of Chelyabinsk Region’s largest industrial enterprise was part of the Kazakhstan’s representatives’ visit to the Southern Urals in order to reinforce the two parties’ foreign economic connections and to negotiate over some promising cooperation projects, the plant’s press service reports. The department’s production facilities and the company’s corporate

March 2, 2015. Uralvagonzavod Corporation adopted an industrial safety policy for hazardous industrial facilities. This policy is based on the government industrial safety policy and is customized to meet the company’s specific production technicalities, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘The main goal is to ensure secure industrial safety levels at the departments where facilities are run that could do economic, social, and environmental damage to society in case of an accident,’ the press service says. To prevent accidents, the industrial safety must reach a level that brings their

February 27, 2015. A federally owned land allotment near Novo-Sverdlovskaya Power Station that is over 100 hectares big and two pieces of land in Istok that are 33 and 35 hectares big will be allocated to Sverdlovsk Region, the Governor’s press service reports. The first slot is expected to be used to set up an industrial park. According to Sverdlovsk Region Public Property Management Minister Alexei Pyankov, this will create at least 7,000 jobs in the machine-building, food manufacturing, construction, and telecommunications sectors. ‘Besides, the ministry’s proposal that the two land

February 27, 2015. Kamensk Uralsky Foundry Plant (KULZ, a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) started using an industrial-purpose X-Ray device to test its aluminum and magnesium alloy castings for defects. According to the corporation’s press service, the 3m-ruble equipment set was bought by the plant late in 2014. ‘The new 225-kilowatt fault detector came to replace its less powerful and less productive 150-kilowatt predecessor. The radiation-emitting devices were installed in a properly insulated room with a special automatic door. However, the safety of the equipment had to be

February 27, 2015. LEPSE ( a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) is going to coordinate a contest for investors and production improvers this year. ‘The main idea is to enhance the prestige of creative activity among our younger workers, to promote the innovations culture, and, most importantly, to build the company’s scientific research potential,’ the corporation’s press service says. The contest will be held on the Inventor’s Day (the last Saturday in June) on an annual basis. Any employee aged under 35 will be eligible to compete as long as they have submitted an improvement

February 27, 2015. 1,870 people applied to Yekaterinburg Employment Center looking for a job; 95.1% of the applicants are without a position at the moment, Sverdlovsk Region Labor & Employment Department’s press service reports. 930 citizens were officially registered as jobless in January 2015. As of February 1, 2015, 4,204 unemployed Russian citizens were registered with the local employment agencies (compared with 3,524 people a year earlier). Yekaterinburg’s official unemployment rate stood at 0.58%. At the same time, the number of people who don’t have a job at the moment but are on

February 27, 2015. Prices keep going up slightly, albeit slowly, on Yekaterinburg housing market: they only rose by 0.6% compared with the start of the year, with the average asking price coming to 76,685 RUR per m2, Ural Chamber of Real Estate’s press service reports. In February, the supply resumed growing on Yekaterinburg existing homes market: there are currently 8,100 apartments and 1,200 rooms in communal apartments in the Chamber’s database. Unlike now, the number of apartments the Chamber advertised as available for purchase kept going down quickly since November and shrank from