March 5, 2014. The Russian Federation Government allocated 1.42bn RUR worth of subsidies for the development of family-run livestock farms. Sverdlovsk Region is going to get 14m RUR out of this amount, the Cabinet's official website states. Under the government's decision, the money will be directed to co-financing the spending of Russian Federation constituencies related to support of family-run livestock farms. The Karachayevo-Cherkessian Republic, Yakutia, and Dagestan will get the biggest subsidies (65.26m RUR, 49.5m RUR, and 46.89m RUR, respectively). The undistributed amount

March 5, 2014. An Open Doors Day will be held in Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ) Training Center on March 5. Following a tour of the unique Training Center (whose area actually comes to 7,500 sq m), school-leavers could appreciate all the options of these experimental training sites, the company's press service reports. The classrooms are fitted with labs, pipe-rolling mill simulators, and simulators by the German Festo and the Italian Prosoft. The students will be asked to complete a task at the Technical Arts Section and can practice with Lego robots. They will also work at

March 04, 2014. Ural Airlines will now offer its Yekaterinburg-Munich flight all the year round. The flight is operated every Saturday, the airline's press service says. A new flight from Krasnodar to Munich will also be launched on April 26, 2014. If you book more than 60 days before the flight, a round trip ticket to Munich from either Krasnodar or Yekaterinburg will cost €290 (all fees and charges included). 'Munich, one of Germany's most beautiful cities, has a lot of nice surprises to offer tourists. In the spring, Munich hosts the second largest festival (preceded only by

March 04, 2014. The amount of forestry resources use fees paid to Sverdlovsk Region budget in 2013 (including fines and awarded damages) came to 816m RUR, the local Forestry Department's press service says. According to the data that were reported at the Department meeting, the forest restoration target figures were met by 111% last year. Sverdlovsk Region also has all the standard nursery materials and seed stock to work on forest restoration in 2014. In addition, the area of forest was four times smaller in 2013 than in 2012; the percentage of forest fires that were extinguished on the

March 04, 2014. Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Viktor Nazarov and Director-General of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation Oleg Sienko signed a cooperation agreement, the corporation's press service says. The joint projects and events will be coordinated by Omsk Region Economics Ministry on behalf of Omsk Region Government and by Transport Machine-Building Design Office (KBTM) on behalf of Uralvagonzavod. The agreement provides for the two parties cooperating in various fields: exchanging information on the scientific, technological, and innovative potential of hi tech

March 04, 2014. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (PNTZ, a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) started getting ready for its 80th anniversary. The plant was officially set up on May 13, 1934: on this day, the first 64 pipes were drawn in the Pipe-Drawing Department, the enterprise's press service says. 'In the time we have left before this special day, we'll coordinate a number of festive events in Pervouralsk that will be open to everyone: long-service employees, plant workers, the local youth, and the youngest residents of the town. The festivities will feature sports competitions (a

March 04, 2014. The National Rating Agency affirmed the national scale rating of METCOMBANK at AA- (very high solvency, Level 3), with Positive Rating Outlook, the bank's press service says. Analysts report that the affirmation of the rating had to do with the bank's stable financial performance, its strong market positions, and a well-diversified customer base. Positive Rating Outlook was brought about by the increase in the customers' borrowing activity and could actually prove positive if the bank's lending portfolio retains its good quality and the market risks keep

March 03, 2014. Pervouralsk School 1 was given a plasma screen by ChTPZ Group’s the Future of White Metallurgy Training Center for job counseling offered to their school-leavers. Thanks to the school management’s efforts, 22 students joined the Future of White Metallurgy program, the enterprise’s press service reports. ‘Our graduates got full information on the unique opportunities the Training Center offers. The project, known as The Future of White Metallurgy, is estimated by experts as the best case of effective blue-collar skills training program. Our teachers and the teachers from the

March 03, 2014. After the performance of the 4G mobile Internet connection during the Sochi Olympics has been tested by engineers from an independent body called 3Gspeed.ru, the work of MegaFon technicians was declared ‘an outstanding achievement’, while its Internet connection speed of 88 Mb per second proved a record-setting one for the Russian 4G networks. In the end, 3Gspeed.ru engineers created a mobile coverage map for Sochi, with indications as to where the super-fast 4G Internet connection is available, the company’s press service says. 3Gspeed.ru engineers used MegaFon’s 4G modem

March 03, 2014. Standard & Poor’s changed Sverdlovsk Region’s Rating Outlook from Stable to Negative, while at the same time affirming the constituency’s long-term issuer credit rating at BB+, Finam reports. ‘The Rating Outlook was reconsidered due to weaker budget implementation that we had expected. We could point out that, should Sverdlovsk Region fail to improve its budget performance this year, this will weaken its liquidity and increase its debts,’ Standard & Poor’s analysts say. This Negative Rating Outlook reflects S&P’s vision of stronger risks related to weakened

March 03, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region’s foreign trade turnover decreased by 16.1% last year compared with January-December 2012 and amounted to $10,028.5m, Sverdlovskstat’s official report states. Exports dropped by 20.4% on the whole and came to $7,226.1m, while imports declined by 2.5% and amounted to $2,802.4m. The foreign trade turnover involving the countries of the far abroad decreased by 16.9% ($8,916.8m); exports went down by 23.7% ($6,310.7m) and imports grew by 5.9% ($2,606.1m).

March 03, 2014. About 40 to 50 Russian pharmaceutical companies might get closed down in 2014 because of the introduction of new production standards, State Duma deputy and member of the Health Committee Alexander Petrov said at a meeting of medicine manufacturers in Yekaterinburg today. ‘We do have some deadlines: we are to switch to the GMP standards in 2014, however painful this may turn out to be. According to our estimates, 40 to 50 Russian medicine manufacturers will have to go under. These are the enterprises that make old-standard medications and do not undergo upgrades,’ the official

February 28, 2014. VSMPO-Avisma Corporation bought out 15% of its shares from Gazprombank for 14bn RUR, Kommersant refers to VSMPO-Avisma managers Mikhail Shelkov and Mikhail Voyevodin as saying. As a result of this deal, Shelkov and Voyevodin now own 65% of VSMPO-Avisma Corporation shares. Gazprombank started buying stakes in the corporation in 2012. In November 2012, Rostech announced it would like to buy out a 45.42% shareholding in VSMPO-Avisma for 970m RUR. The consortium of VSMPO-Avisma and Gazprombank managers Business Alliance Company (BAC) where VSMPO management has a 75% plus 1

February 28, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region remained the federal constituency with the largest government debt among all the constituencies of Ural Federal District. According to the Russian Federation Finance Ministry's statistics that are available via the ministry's website, Sverdlovsk Region's government debt amounted to 33.889bn RUR on February 1, 2014 compared with 22bn RUR on December 1. 2013. Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Region, with its 27.5bn RUR worth of government debt (compared with 18.3bn RUR two months earlier), was in the second place, followed by Chelyabinsk Region

February 28, 2014. Uralasbest, the primary employer in Asbest, Sverdlovsk Region, which currently employs 6,600 people, might place its workers on a three days on, two days off basis due to sales problems. The employees have been informed of the possible by changes by now, but the decision was actually taken as a possible Plan B, no layoffs are expected, Sverdlovsk Region Construction Ministry told UrBC. Uralasbest makes 21% of the world supply of asbestos, and 78% of its produce are exported. Things have grown more difficult lately because the importing countries keep protesting against

February 28, 2014. In 2013, 236 instances when taxi drivers violated the traffic code were documented in Sverdlovsk Region, including 78 cases when passengers were transported without a permit to offer such services, and 77 cases when taxi signs and symbols were used without authorization, head of Technical Supervision & Vehicle Registration Department of Sverdlovsk Region division of the Traffic Safety Inspection Alexander Porubenko said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg. As for the first months of 2014, 74 violations of the traffic code were prevented among taxi drivers, including

February 28, 2014. Kirov-based LEPSE set up a new division within its design department in charge of design, production, and testing of new vehicles. The division comprises experts in electronics, mechanics, and electric engines. These experts will be responsible for doing calculations and mathematical modeling of aviation and special-purpose goods, Uralvagonzavod Corporation's press service says. 'The high precision and speed of calculations for these goods is a substantial factor in the efficiency of this division of a member enterprise of the corporation. For one, R&D is only

February 28, 2014. Pavel Shilyaev was appointed the Director-General of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) in the course of the extraordinary general meeting. He was appointed acting DG earlier. Pavel Shilyaev was born in Kurgan on July 3, 1970. He graduated from Chelyabinsk State Technical University with a degree in Motor Drives and Automation of Industrial Units. In 2006, he completed a course on Performance Management at Stockholm School of Economics in Saint Petersburg. He arrived at MMK in 1993 and went up from an engineer to Tech Maintenance & Repair Center Director. In

February 27, 2014. Ural Federal University was not featured on the list of the world's top 200 colleges along ten different kinds of specialization, QS University Subject Rankings 2014 as presented by RIA Novosti in cooperation with the British company Quacquarelli states. 'The ranking positions were assigned to colleges based on four different criteria: the academic community's opinion, the employer's opinion, the citation index, and the Hirsch index that assesses a scientist's or a scholar's contribution to science. All in all, the research touched upon thirty

February 27, 2014. Yekaterinburg car market shrank by 4% in January 2014 compared with last January: the sales figure was 5,252, while the Russian market on the whole decreased by 6%. Lada, Nissan, and Renault were the top three best-selling cars, with the share of the former falling and the shares of the latter two increasing by 56% and 65%, respectively, Auto-Dealer-Yekaterinburg's research findings indicate. 643 Ladas were sold in January 2014 (10% less than a year earlier), 529 Nissans and 501 Renaults were sold as well. The fourth best-selling car was Hyundai (464 units, which was