September 29, 2014. The opening of the famous coffee chain Starbucks’ first branch in Greenwich Shopping Mall caused a lot of craze and excitement in Yekaterinburg. There was a tremendous line next to the outlet that actually reached all the way out to the shopping mall entrance. As a matter of fact, the official opening ceremony will only take place tomorrow. This weekend, Starbucks came up with a special offer of treating its first thousand customers to a free cup of coffee. To get your coffee FOC, you need to enter the Yekaterinburg outlet’s website and provide an email address that a

September 29, 2014. This year, four new refrigerator hangars will be commissioned in Sverdlovsk Region, and new refrigerating equipment will also be launched at four agricultural enterprises, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policy Department reports. ‘Storing locally produced vegetables through the start of next year’s yield will allow us to avoid potato and vegetable shortage, not to depend on suppliers from other locations, and, most importantly, to control food prices. Vegetable cellars fit for 8,000,000 kg of foods were commissioned last year, and this year, there appeared

September 26, 2014. Svetlana Moshkovitch from Armada Paralympics Club (sponsored by Uralvagonzavod Corporation) won the first prize in the 13-km individual race in the European Handcycling Cup in Italy. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports Svetlana also won the silver medal in the group race on September 20 and was awarded the third prize in the European Cup final overall. ‘Svetlana Moshkevitch performed outstandingly this season, and we hope to see some new achievements next year,’ says the Russian national team’s coach Alexei Chunosov.

September 26, 2014. Electromachine Scientific & Production Association (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) coordinated the Best Workplace Contest within the framework of its lean manufacturing introduction program. Workers from the company’s mechanical, galvanizing, and pre-production department competed for the Best Workplace Based on 5S prize, the corporation’s press service reports. The company started introducing the principles of lean manufacturing in July 2014; this is also when practical 5S workshops began to educate the staff about the organization and improvement

September 26, 2014. ChTPZ Group’s experts took part in Industry World/WIN Russia Ural, an international forum for mining, metallurgical, metal treatment, and machine-building technologies, ChTPZ Group’s press service reports. The forum covered a sectional meeting on training cadre for the mining/metallurgical and machine-building sectors and on the challenges, problems, experience, and solutions in the area. The meeting was attended by Sverdlovsk Region Deputy Minister for General & Vocational Education Alexei Pakhomov, Executive Vice President of Sverdlovsk Region Union of Industrialists

September 26, 2014. An agreement on trade, economic, scientific, technological, and cultural cooperation will be signed by Sverdlovsk Region and the federal state of Styria, Austria, the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Department reports. ‘The agreement, that is currently being worked on by both parties, will lay a solid foundation for the cooperation between Sverdlovsk Region and one of Austria’s most economically developed federal states and will become a basis for long-term investment. Choosing Styria as a business partner was no coincidence: this Austrian state has an economic

September 26, 2014. As of September 24, 2014, 134 displaced persons from Ukraine were granted Russian citizenship in Sverdlovsk Region, head of Sverdlovsk Region division of the Federal Tax Service’s Refugee & Displaced Persons Naturalization Department Alyona Tretyakova says. ‘That Sverdlovsk Region is an appealing area for immigrants is hardly a secret fact. 6,500 Ukrainian natives have currently registered with the local immigration authorities, including 4,393 people who asked for an asylum,’ Tretyakova said.

September 25, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant made 36.1bn RUR worth of goods in the first half of 2014, the corporation’s press service reports. 10, 681 units of rolling stock were made, including 8,226 gondola cars, 2,330 tank cars, 106 lumber carriers, and 19 dumping cars. 37.7bn RUR worth of goods were shipped to customers. This year, Uralvagonzavod kept working on its department technical upgrades program. In the first half of 2014, the plant received and commissioned 238 units of technological equipment, which resulted in 142.6m RUR in savings. During this period, 115

September 25, 2014. The trade union of Kamensk-Uralsky Foundry Plant (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) collected a third batch of humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugees currently located in Kamensk-Uralsky; the aid was handed over to the Red Cross representatives. These are winter clothing, bedding, diapers, and personal hygiene items, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘There are currently some 200 displaced persons from Ukraine living in Kamensk-Uralsky. Most of them have already found jobs, some of them pay their rent themselves. However, there are things they need

September 25, 2014. Ural Locomotives (a joint venture operated by Sinara Group and Siemens AG) is working on a more comfortable version of high-speed electric train Lastochka, RZhD Partner refers to CEO of Siemens Russia Dietrich Moeller as saying. Mr. Moeller explained that most of the changes will have to do with seats and electronic equipment. ‘We operate in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, where we have a special Engineering & Design Department, and this is where the new solution for Russia is being elaborated,’ he said. The CEO noted the first 48 trains were delivered from Germany specially for

September 25, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region was among the top ten Russian Federation constituencies in terms of air travel intensity, the Tour Operators Association’s website states. Moscow was No.1 in the rating. On average, people living in the capital book flights 4.5 times more often than travelers from other parts of the country. Muscovites prefer to fly economy class, with tickets under 30,000 RUR. In addition to Sverdlovsk Region, Saint Petersburg, Krasnodar Territory, Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region, Murmansk Region, and Novosibirsk Region were also among the top ten. People appear to

September 25, 2014. Ural Airlines is running a quest game where passengers are invited to accomplish various ‘missions’ and get statuses and awards, that is, Wings Club bonus rubles, the air carrier’s press service reports. There are six missions available at the moment. The first one is called Visits and consists in making five trips from Yekaterinburg or Moscow with Ural Airlines and thus getting 300 bonus rubles. The Mobilize quest consists in buying 5, 10, or 20 tickets using the Ural Airlines’ mobile app and getting 500, 1,000, or 1,500 bonus rubles, respectively. Then, there is the

September 24, 2014. Uraltransmash (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) coordinated a professional skills contest among quality control inspectors for the first time. According to the corporation’s press service, the contest was unique in that only young workers under 35 years of age could join in the competition, since the contest was part of the company’s youth policy program. Following a round of candidate selection, six people were chosen to compete and were put into two groups based on their qualification of a welding inspector or that of a machining inspector. The contest

September 24, 2014. The construction of a new polyclinic for Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant has been completed in Dzerzhinsky District of Nizhniy Tagil. Builders are now busy with the interior finishing jobs and assembly of engineering networks, the corporation’s press service reports. ‘The roof of the building is 100% complete, the walls are 90% insulated. The façade of the building is now being coated and will then be painted into company colors. The window panes are already in place, the only double glazing left is that of the stained glass windows facing a shopping mall. Inside,

September 24, 2014. A thank-you letter arrived for Oleg Sienko, the Director-General of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation. The letter was signed by First Deputy Defense Minister of the Russian Federation General Arkadiy Bakhin. ‘In his letter, the General expresses his gratitude to the entire corporation team and specifically to Oleg Sienko for ‘their support of and participation in the preparation and coordination of the Tank Biathlon 2014 World Championship’. The letter also says that the Defense Ministry officials value greatly the corporation’s contribution to

September 24, 2014. The ‘People’s Test Drive’ of the high-speed Internet connection provided by Motiv Telecommunications Group started in Surgut on September 23, the group reports. It is very easy to join the test drive and get the new-generation network experience: all you have to do is come to any of the company’s branches in Surgut, get a universal SIM card (USIM), and enjoy the high-speed 4G Internet connection absolutely free of charge throughout the trial period. You do not get charged for the SIM card replacement, and you get to keep your phone number and your phone account balance.

September 24, 2014. McDonald’s appealed against the ruling pronounced by Yekaterinburg Zheleznodorozhny District Court on closing down one of its restaurants at 106 Chelyuskintsev St in Yekaterinburg, head of Sverdlovsk Region Court’s press service Ekaterina Maslenikova informed UrBC. ‘The appeal has already been submitted to the court,’ she said. The date for the hearing hasn’t been set yet. Now Yekaterinburg Zheleznodorozhny District Court imposed an eighty-day ban (starting from September 4) on McDonald’s restaurant at 106 Chelyuskintsev St. The consumer rights authorities detected some

September 23, 2014. The local stage of the Glory to the Man of Labor Contest was held at Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant in Nizhniy Tagil. According to the corporation’s press service, 26 employees of Sverdlovsk Region’s major machine-building and metallurgical enterprises came to compete for the title of the Best Manual Arc Welder. Uralvagonzavod Corporation was represented by three workers from the holding’s three different member enterprises: Denis Letvinov from Uralvagonzavod, Nikolai Utrobin from Plant 9, and Maxim Bystrov from Uraltransmash. During the solemn opening ceremony,

September 23, 2014. Ural Airlines announced a sale on the flights it operates from Yekaterinburg to Beijing and back, the air carrier’s press service reports. Tickets can already be booked at special rates for economy class (€130) and business class (€400) seats; the price is quoted for a one-way ticket and the fees and charges are not included. Flights can be booked for dates between October 1, 2014 and February 28, 2015, excluding the period between December 25, 2014 and January 5, 2015 (for Yekaterinburg-Beijing flights) and between January 5, 2015 and January 15, 2015 (for

September 23, 2014. A photo of Chelyabinsk meteorite taken by Andrei Dubrovin, a reporter of ChTZ Uraltrac company newspaper (the plant is a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation), was published in an album comprising works of 140 photographers from thirty different countries. ‘Andrei made the photograph as he was going to the plant shooting range in Misyash in order to do a photo shoot of one of the new machines undergoing trial runs. He saw the passing fire-ball on his way to Chebarkul and did not miss out on the rare opportunity to take a picture,’ the corporation’s press service