May 30, 2014. Prices on Yekaterinburg existing homes market have been gradually going up over the last five months. All in all, the prices are now 3% higher than in January, the spokesperson for Ural Chamber of Real Estate reports. The price changes vary between 1.4% and 3.7% depending on the market segment. According to the Chamber’s Analytical Department, the average offering price of a square meter of housing on the apartments put up to sale on the existing homes market in Yekaterinburg came to 74,969 RUR on May 26, 2014. ‘The existing homes supply was shrinking in the first quarter of the

May 30, 2014. The median speed of Internet connection rose by over four times in Russia in the course of two years. In the first three months of 2014, Ural Federal District had the highest median speed – 60 Mbit/sec against 34 Mbit/sec a year earlier. At the same time, the Internet access is also the cheapest in the Urals, Svyaznoy reports. According to this source, the median connection speed offered by ISPs was around 31 Mbit/sec. By the end of Q1’14, the figure rose to 45 Mbit/sec. The increase was over 300% in the first three months of 2014 compared with the first quarter of 2012. The

May 29, 2014. Kamenskoye dairy farm (a member enterprise of Sinara Group) won a diploma in the 14th annual Dairy Foods & Ice Cream Quality Festival. Following an anonymous tasting procedure, the milk produce by this farm was awarded the 1st degree diploma among pasteurized drinking milk varieties. The best agricultural enterprises of Sverdlovsk Region competed for the victory in this key category, Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. The board of jurors comprised representatives of agricultural ministries and departments, dairy food quality testing laboratories, and experts from the Chamber

May 29, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region interregional public prosecution authorities for transportation checked the compliance of Bogdanovich Mineral Wool Batt Plant (BZMVP) with the air protection legislation. ‘It was detected that the company’s production process involves using 20 air-polluting facilities, 12 of which are stationary. What is more, the plant does not actually keep track of air pollutants it emits and has no documentation on the maximum permissible discharge limits or an emission permit,’ the press service of Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution authorities reports. Following the

May 29, 2014. Yekaterinburg Council is going to have 200 colored containers installed in the parts of the city that are close to the Shirokaya Rechka landfill as part of the local dual waste treatment program before the end of 2014. According to Yekaterinburg Council’s press service, the city currently runs 694 special orange-colored containers on 292 sites; these are meant for collecting recyclable materials.

May 29, 2014. The plastic card transactions turnover normally rises by 15% to 20% during the summer vacation period and reaches a peak in June through August. However, this year’s top season took off as early as the beginning of May thanks to the long May recess, Bank Koltso Urala’s press service reports. ‘The amount of transactions relating to purchasing train and airplane tickets usually increases quite noticeably in the first summer months (by 81% in June and by 86% in July). A little while later, bank card holders start booking and paying for their hotel stays (the increase is 20% in July

May 29, 2014. 10 new cultural heritage objects were registered in Sverdlovsk Region over the last two months, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s website states. Nine objects were detected on the premises of the Kremlin building in Verkhoturye. The special cultural heritage status was ascribed to the local treasury, the gunpowder magazine, the pantry, the north-western and the south-western towers, the northern and the western fortress walls, the guard-house, the cook-house, and the magistrate’s house. ‘In order to maintain and popularize the local Kremlin, experts from a state-run Scientific

May 28, 2014. A multi-faceted recreation and tourism development program for Verkhoturye for 2014-2020 is estimated at 4.2bn RUR, with 2.7bn RUR to be allocated from Sverdlovsk Region budget and the rest to be contributed by private investors, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s press service reports. 37.5% if this money will be directed to renovation and construction of the communal housing services infrastructure. Thanks to this program, 70% of the population will get access to uninterrupted supply of good quality drinking water and will benefit from 16 km of natural gas pipelines. In 2014-2020,

May 28, 2014. A group of reporters from Mayak radio station who are currently working on their Big Test Drive Project on YouTube tried out the vehicles made at Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ, a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod). According to the corporation’s press service, the reporters were professionally interested in the T-34 and IS-3 tanks that were made at ChTZ as well as in the world’s largest (as the Guinness Book of Records would have it) tractor, the T-800. ‘Rustam Vakhidov and Sergey Stillavin traded their mikes in for cameras and came up with three clips. They spoke very

May 28, 2014. According to the Ural Chamber of Real Estate’s Analytical Department, the median offering price of a square meter of housing on Yekaterinburg existing homes market was 74,831 RUR on May 19, 2014, the Chamber’s press officer says. The prices tend to keep going up within 0.1% a week. Over the last four weeks, these increased by 0.3%, and the total increase has come to about 2.8% compared with the beginning of the year. The market supply has been going up as well. The number of apartments being offered for sale through the Chamber’s database rises by 1% to 1.5% every week. The

May 28, 2014. The maiden flight will be operated to Patras, Greece from International Koltsovo Airport (a member of Regional Airports Management Company) on June 3. The flight will be operated by Ural Airlines on Airbus 320 every Tuesday. 18 Patras-bound flights have been scheduled for the summer of 2014 altogether, the airport’s press service reports. What is more, twice as many flights will be operated to Kerkyra Island in Greece compared with last summer. The flights will be operated by Ellinair and Orenburg Airlines on Boeing 737 aircraft. Ellinair intends to operate flights from Koltsovo

May 28, 2014. UEKhK (a member enterprise of Rosatom’s TVEL in Novouralsk) launced new, microprocessor-based equipment at its grid and substation department in April 2014. This equipment will ensure more reliable, more fire-secure, and greener operation of the electric units, the enterprise’s press service reports. According to the power engineer from Department 101 Galina Semenenko, the microprocessor-based fiber optic arc barrier devices and the incoming cubicles with vacuum circuit breakers and microprocessor protection and automation systems that came to replace the obsolete oil break

May 27, 2014. Chelyabinsk hosted the 4th All-Russian Conference on Steel Pipe Production and Local Sales that was attended by top managers and heads of metallurgical and metal-trading enterprises. The conference participants spoke about the potential for the development of pipe industry in Russia and the CIS, the sector trends for the upcoming years, the options for increasing sales, price forecasts, and sales policies of the leading steel pipe manufacturers on local markets. Alexander Akulinushkin, the leading expert from the Local Sales Group of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK)

May 27, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation and Rosneft signed a cooperation agreement during Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum. The paper was signed by Rosneft Chairman of the Supervisory Board Igor Sechin and Director-General of Uralvagonzavod Oleg Sienko. According to the corporation’s press service, the agreement provides for joint scientific research activity in the field of development, production, and launch of hi tech lubricating agents. In addition, Rosneft experts are expected to look into their product range and introduce the types of products

May 27, 2014. Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Karim Masimov examined a number of life-size samples, including those made by Uralvagonzavod, on the third day of the International Exhibition KADEX 2014. Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports that the company’s special representative for military & technological cooperation Alexei Maslov showed the Prime Minister Terminator-2, a fire support vehicle based on the T-72 tank; this vehicle meets the Kazakh Armed Forces’ requirements. Kazakhstan’s Defense Minister Serik Akhmetov confirmed the fact that the Kazakh authorities intended to

May 27, 2014. ChTZ-Uraltrac (a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) is going to take part in Russia’s largest building exhibition called Construction Vehicles and Technologies 2014 at Crocus Expo in Moscow in early June. ‘The tractor manufacturers are planning to present twelve machines there. Seven of them were made or assembled at the enterprise, including the smallest B8 bulldozer which is meant for communal housing services and road works as it can be operated in cramped city spaces. Visitors to the exhibition will also see the swamp-proof B11B and the new make of a bulldozer

May 27, 2014. 25,761 new passenger and light commercial vehicles were sold in Yekaterinburg in January-April 2014, which was 13%, or 3,770 cars less than in January-April 2013, Auto-Dealer-Yekaterinburg reports. In April, car sales declined by 23% compared with April 2013 and amounted to 6,343 automobiles. The only brand in the top ten selling ones whose sales actually improved was Nissan, which is still the best selling foreign car in Yekaterinburg. The Japanese brand remains popular thanks to new makes and the beloved Nissan Almera. Lada remains No. 1 brand on Yekaterinburg car market;

May 27, 2014. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) underwent a certification procedure successfully, so its Russian River Register certificate relating to corrosion-resistant pipes that meet GOST 9941-81 requirements now covers a wider range of products. The certificate states that the plant’s produce can be used in the river shipbuilding industry. The enterprise has by now fulfilled the orders for five types of stainless steel pipes varying in sizes that meet the Russian River Register requirements. The first batch was shipped to Sredne-Nevsky Shipbuilding Plant

May 26, 2014. Director-General of Uralvagonzavod Corporation Oleg Sienko and Governor of Saint Petersburg Georgiy Poltavchenko met to discuss the possibilities of business cooperation during Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum. The corporation’s press service reports a contract on cooperation between Saint Petersburg and Uralvagonzavod Corporation was signed at the end of the meeting. The contract provides for investing in the creation of a new scientific research facility that will integrate the intellectual assets of three of the corporation’s member enterprises (TsNIIM,

May 26, 2014. Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation presented three life-size samples and a full-scale mockup of the newest developments by a the corporation’s member enterprises at the 3d International Exhibition Kadex 2014 in Astana, Kazakhstan. According to the corporation’s press service, Russian Vice Premier Dmitri Rogozin and Kazakhstan’s Defense Minister Serik Akhmetov attended the company stand and open-air display on the first day of the exhibition. ‘Exponents and visitors to the exhibition saw Terminator-2 (BMPT-72), the tank fire support vehicles that was developed