August 6, 2014. A team of FIFA TV camera people arrived in Yekaterinburg in order to create an introductory clip on the Mid-Urals’ capital, the city council’s press officer reports. ‘There are two specialists on the team: Ashley Davis from the South African Republic and Andrew Jung from Ireland. While here, the FIFA TV workers have already filmed the old town and the city’s cultural landmarks. Tomorrow, they are planning on going to Bazhovskiye Mesta Park in Sysert and to Verknyaya Pyshma,’ the press officer says. The FIFA video engineers have already managed to travel to Samara, Saransk,

August 5, 2014. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development (UBRD) got a $30m syndicated loan; the deal was coordinated by Alfa-Bank, the bank’s press service reports. The contract under English law was signed by the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Alfa-Bank on June 17, 2014. Alfa-Bank acts as the original creditor, the deal-maker, and the paying agent. Bayerische Landesbank Munich acts as the agent bank. The credit line has been opened for two years since the date the loan agreement was signed. The borrowing party is allowed to take out sums for three, six, nine, and

August 5, 2014. The Central Bank of Russia’s Ural division will start operating in Yekaterinburg on September 17, the new division’s head Irina Petrova said during her meeting with Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeniy Kuivashev. The Governor’s Information Policies Department reports the division will comprise respective departments of Tyumen Region, Chelyabinsk Region, Orenburg Region, Sverdlovsk Region, Perm Territory, and the Republic of Bashkortostan. ‘We are now shaping our team and taking on people,’ Irina Petrova said. Ms Petrova actually used to work as the head of the Central Bank’s

August 5, 2014. Seven specialists from LEPSE (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation based in Kirov) attended a training course on working with AltiumDesigner, a multi-faceted system for computer-aided design of radio-electronic equipment. According to the corporation’s press service, the company will now design its printed circuits in 3D, with bidirectional data transfer onto mechanical CAD systems (including the SolidWorks the company has been using). ‘The basic forty-hour course gave the engineers an idea of how the system works. This necessary crash course baggage will help

August 5, 2014. Advanced technological developments will be used to prepare training pitches in Yekaterinburg in time for the world football championship of 2018. The city council’s press service reports the use of innovative technologies has to do with the high FIFA standards the football pitches must meet. For one, the authorities are planning to introduce a warm-up system at the training pitch of Kalininets Sports Club; the system will include a heating unit, some collectors, and polyethylene pipes that will be fitted under the lawn. Builders are considering a water-based solution of

August 5, 2014. Starting August 27, Ural Airlines are launching a new, scheduled flight from Moscow to Harbin, the company’s press service reports. Flights will be operated every Wednesday (the return flights will be operated on Thursdays). There is a stopover in Yekaterinburg; tickets are already available for booking. All of Ural Airlines’ flights are operated on the comfortable Airbus 320 liners that have both an economy and a business class section. ‘Harbin is known both at home and abroad as a uniquely beautiful place with amazing architecture and the atmosphere that could only be felt

August 4, 2014. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant/PNTZ (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) made an experimental batch of steel weldless compressor pipes with Type F threaded joints. The first batch of this new pipe variety - 259,000 kg altogether, each pipe 89x6.5mm big and made of steel with enhanced mechanical properties – was shipped to Surgutneftegaz. 175,000 kg of steels that are 89x8mm big will be delivered to the company soon, the Group’s press service reports. These pipes are special in that they have longer thread pitches, which means they can be used not only for repairs and technical

August 4, 2014. A representative of Moscow Youth Club and member of Armada Paralympics Club Sergey Ustinov won the first prize in the World Cup cycling competition (Class C3); this was the first time a Russian sports player on the Russian national team did this. The final stage of UCI Paracycling World Cup took place in Cantimpalos, Segovia (Spain) on July 25-27, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. 379 sportsmen and women from 38 different countries took part in the competition. The sports players cycled on the difficult tracks with great determination. The steep rises and the

August 4, 2014. The Russian Government prepared a list of Russian one-employer towns that were classified along three categories based on how serious their socioeconomic problems are. The document was carried on the Cabinet’s official website. According to the government decree, six one-employer towns based in Sverdlovsk Region were in the category of those in the worst socioeconomic circumstances; the reasons for this include problems in the functioning of the businesses that provide workplaces for most of the local population. Among the problem one-employer towns are: Krasnoturyinsk,

August 4, 2014. A Yekaterinburg local is facing up to two years in prison for deliberately avoiding to pay back a loan that comes to over 2m RUR. Court officers instituted criminal proceedings against the man based on Article 177 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code, Sverdlovsk Region division of the Federal Service of Court Officers’ press service reports. According to the ruling of Yekaterinburg Zheleznodorozhny District Court, the man named B. had to pay 2.3m RUR to a private individual. The court officer instituted enforcement proceedings against the debtor, the man was duly informed

August 4, 2014. On July 21-27, the median price of a liter of gasoline in Yekaterinburg came to 32.25 RUR, the State Statistical Service’s report states. The median price of AI 92 was 30.86 RUR, that of AI 95 was 33.69 RUR, that of diesel fuel was 33.1 RUR. Gasoline prices went up in 62 Russian federal constituencies over last week. The increase was the greatest in Saratov: prices rose by 2%.

August 2, 2014. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) keeps working on promising types of steel for car makers and manufacturers of spare parts and components, the enterprise reports. The enterprise has mastered the technology for making rolled items that are 1.2mm thick so far. In the nearest future, a number of experimental batches will be made at the continuous hot dip galvanizing line and the continuous annealing/hot-dip galvanizing aggregate at Sheet-Rolling Shop 11; the products will be 2.0mm thick. MMK is planning to offer this new rolled metal products to customers for their

August 2, 2014. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) keeps working on new, promising kinds of steel meant for car and car parts manufacturers, the company’s press service reports. The enterprise has already tried making 1.2mm rolled stock successfully and is planning to make some pilot batches of 2.0mm rolled stock on its continuous hot-dip galvanizing line and on its continuous annealing/hot-dip galvanizing line at Rolling Mill 11. MMK intends to present this stock to customers so that they can carry out their internal tests which are necessary for approval and further use of the

August 1, 2014. The price Sverdlovsk Region-based consumers are now buying gasoline for rose by 4% compared with the beginning of the year, Head of Sverdlovskstat Elena Kutina said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. According to Kutina, diesel fuel prices, on the other hand, dropped by 0.3%. In June 2014, the median price of a liter of gasoline came to 31.73 RUR in Sverdlovsk Region. The median price of AI 92 gasoline was 30.31 RUR, that of AI 95 was 33.21 RUR, and that of diesel fuel was 33.19 RUR.

August 1, 2014. TMK-INOX, a joint venture run by Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) and Rosnano Corporation, is announcing an increase in welded stainless DIN EN10217, DIN 11850, and GOST 11068 prices; the new price list applies to all the newly signed contracts starting from August 1, 2014. The increase will reach up to 5%. According to TMK, this step was necessitated by the rising raw stuffs costs, namely, the cost of hot- and cold-rolled materials such as rolls that are used for making this variety of pipes. TMK INOX, TMK and Rosnano’s JV, was set up in 2010 on the basis of Sinara Pipe

August 1, 2014. ChTZ-Uraltrac, a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation, shipped one of its B12 bulldozers meant for operation in mountainous areas, to the Republic of Dagestan by order of Russia’s Federal Security Service frontier troops, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. The bulldozer is fitted with protection against falling trees and stones in the form of a special frame above the driver’s cabin. Metal grids that cover all of the cabin windows are an additional driver safety feature. What is more, the tractor has special fittings protecting the gearbox, the

August 1, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region-based large and medium enterprises made 23.5bn RUR worth of profit (with all the losses deducted) in January-May 2014. However, this is actually 49.3% less than in the first half of 2013, Sverdlovskstat reports. The profits of profit-making companies dropped by 24.3% and amounted to 54.9bn RUR compared with a year earlier. At the same time, some economic sectors did much better in terms of profit in January-May 2014; these are: agriculture, hunting, and forestry (the profit figures went up by 1.7 times compared with January-May 2013), construction (1.5

August 1, 2014. Karabashmed is starting to build new homes to relocate the local residents currently living within the plant’s sanitary protection zone. This is part of the company’s environmental program for 2010-2017. This program has been approved of by head of Chelyabinsk division of Rosprirodnadzor (the government environmental watchdog), by Mayor of Karabash, and by the Chairman of Karabash Deputy Assembly, Russian Copper Company’s PR Department reports. Two sections of modern apartment buildings are expected to be put up within the next two years: eight three-storey buildings (with two

July 31, 2014. The authorized capital of NPO Avtomatiki, a scientific & production association and a federal government-run unitary enterprise based in Yekaterinburg, increased by 2.66bn RUR, the organization’s report states. In early July, the enterprise went through with an issue of 2.66m of ordinary shares with face value of 1,000 RUR per item. The joint stock company’s shares can be, as it is reported, ‘purchased by the Russian Federation, Russian Federation constituencies or municipalities if the latter or its divisions are being restructured into a federal or local government-run

July 31, 2014. The U.S. Consulate in Yekaterinburg temporarily stopped issuing visas due to a technical problem within the passport and visa-issuing system, the US Consulate-General in Yekaterinburg’s website states. The same announcements were made via the US websites in other parts of Russia. The announcements explain that it is not only Russia but also other countries where the problem exists. The Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs says some systemic changes were made at the weekend aimed at an increase in productivity, which resulted in this technical problem. It is not