February 3, 2014. In 2014, Yandex is planning to almost double its R&D office in Yekaterinburg in size, the company’s representative in Ural Federal District Pavel Kozlov announced at a press conference. He pointed out that Yekaterinburg has great cadre potential. He feels there are a lot of talented people here. ‘We are not expanding for reasons of profit. It would actually be more convenient for us to have all the people working in one city, Moscow. However, the other parts of Russia are very rich in gifted people who do not wish to leave their hometowns and their places of residence,’

February 3, 2014. An off-site meeting of Union of Carriage-Makers, a non-commercial partnership of railway vehicles users and manufacturers, took place on the premises of Bezhitsk Steel in Bryansk. According to the press officer of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation, over 35 representatives of carriage- and spare parts-making organizations, operator companies, and scientific research institutes took part in the event. Russian Railways were represented by Deputy Head of the Traffic Safety Department Alexander Kosarev and First Deputy Head of Rolling Stock Administration

February 3, 2014. The Economic News Agency has once again come up with a political influence rating of Russian businesspeople and investors by order of Nezavisimaya Gazeta. 31 experts ranked 90 candidates on the basis of their achievements in the last quarter of 2013. Chairman of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Viktor Rashnikov was given the 15th position in the rating of Russia’s Top 50 Most Influential Businesspeople & Investors (the Strong Influence group). This was actually two points better than in the fourth quarter of 2012. The newspaper reports MMK Chairman was given a

February 3, 2014. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) won the prestigious, independent Golden Miner Prize in the Company category. The company was awarded an honorary diploma for media communications development in 2013. The prize coordinators commented on MMK’s unprecedented media activity and the great quality of the materials they present, the enterprise reports. The Golden Miner Prize was set up by a major metallurgical newspaper Gornopromyshlennye Vedomosti with some support from Moscow State Mining University. The awarding ceremony took place at the university, during the plenary

January 31, 2014. Three of Uralvagonzavod Corporation's enterprises – OAO UKBTM, ZAO UBT-Uralvagonzavod, and UBT-Service won the diplomas issued by Nizhniy Tagil Council for 'taking a proactive part in charity in 2013,' the corporation's press service reports. Uralvagonzavod Corporation's head plant also got a diploma and a special prize: the Actions Speak Louder than Words Cup that was given to the plant's Chief Engineer Yuri Shangin by Mayor Sergey Nosov at the solemn awarding ceremony. Nosov specifically pointed out Uralvagonzavod's great contribution to

January 31, 2014. The Nuclear Energy Information Center is going to act as a media partner for the Google Go Digital Generation Contest aimed at schoolchildren and college students, the Yekaterinburg center's press service reports. Under the framework of this project, training sessions and master classes on Internet project development will be conducted on the premises of ten Russian Nuclear Energy Information Centers. At the end of the contest, a member of the board of jurors and the center's Director-General Maria Uvarova will award the winning project a special prize from the

January 31, 2014. LVB Co is closing down its chain store Chevignon in Russia, including the outlet in Yekaterinburg, the store in the Urals' capital Evropa Shopping Mall informed UrBC. 'We will operate for one last day tomorrow, as the company decided not to promote the brand in Russia any longer. The outlets are closing in all the Russian cities, whereas the brand will still be available in other countries. One outlet in Saint Petersburg might keep operating after all,' the Yekaterinburg shop employee told UrBC. He feels the management's decision might have to do with the

January 31, 2014. In 2013, four kinds of vehicles manufactured by Omsk-based Transport Machine-Building Design Office (KBTM) were put into service of the Russian Federation Armed Forces: the power-actuated bridging vehicle (MMK), the amphibious tracked vehicle PTS 4, the amphibian PDP ferry, and the bridge-laying tank MTU-90M, says Uralvagonzavod Corporation (KBTM is a member enterprise of the corporation). Every single one of these vehicles can perform a range of very complicated tasks. For one, the PTS 4 is meant for assault troop, artillery system, infantry fighting vehicle, automobile,

January 31, 2014. MegaFon started delivering static and media content for the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK), the company's press service reports. MegaFon's content delivery network (CDN) unites a number of servers located in the large Russian cities into a single system, which allows for greater Internet download speed for the end users. The CDN service is a must for any large media company if quick and uninterrupted user access to content is to be ensured for bulky data packages. MegaFon launched its CDN services on a commercial scale in 2012;

January 30, 2014. The employees of ChTZ-Uraltrac (a tractor plant that is a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) shipped 6 B10M bulldozers to the local division of Rosgeologia in Irkutsk, Uralvagozavod’s press service reports. The vehicles are fitted with the forest-type protection of the Fleco variety, that is, a steel frame over the pit and the bonnet that protects both the driver and the vehicle from the falling trees. The bulldozers will actually be employed for all kinds of jobs, including clearing the strips of forest land off all vegetation so that a geological survey unit

January 30, 2014. The Director of UralNIIproyekt RAASN Alexander Dolgov and Director of OOO Terem Victor Siminenko were asked to prepare the cost estimates of having the historic walls of Yekaterinburg Central Stadium relocated, the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policies Department reports. Alexander Dolgov and Victor Siminenko have already presented several projects on the reconstruction of the stadium that is expected to host four World Cup matches in 2018. Under the first project, walls would be cut down to several parts, relocated and re-assembled at a new site. Under the

January 30, 2014. This year, the inflow of foreign travelers to Sverdlovsk Region might increase because of a simplified visa issuance procedure for the in-transit passengers; this simplified procedure option is now being discussed by the legislative authorities. The procedure in question would mean that transit passengers from 45 different countries arriving to Russian airports would be able to enjoy a 72-hour visa-free admission regime here, Director of Tourism Development Center Elmira Tukanova said at a press conference. ‘We made sure we took part in the international exhibitions in those

January 30, 2014. The Central Bank feels that as this virtual currency is issued anonymously, private individuals and legal entities might (even accidentally) get involved in some unlawful activities, Bank Koltso Urala states. ‘The Bank of Russia warns both private individuals and legal entities, lending institutions and non-lending financial institutions first and foremost, against the use of ‘virtual currency’, that is, exchanging this for goods (work, services) or legal tenders such as rubles or foreign currency. According to Article 27 of the Federal Act on the Central Bank of the Russian

January 30, 2014. Russian travelers have been unable to leave Phuket Airport for Yekaterinburg since January 27 because UTair’s chartered flight 5 140 gets delayed. Their Boeing 757-200 was to have taken off at 9:50 AM on January 27 but the departure was actually put off till another day. UTair’s chartered flight 5 140 from Phuket to Yekaterinburg is delayed because our Boeing 757-200 aircraft arrived in Phuket late. This, in its turn, had to do with a series of delays (caused by other factors)of a number of other flights that this particular plane was used for,’ the airline’s press service

January 29, 2014. The employees of ChTZ-Uraltrac (a tractor plant that is a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Corporation) shipped 6 B10M bulldozers to the local division of Rosgeologia in Irkutsk, Uralvagozavod’s press service reports. The vehicles are fitted with the forest-type protection of the Fleco variety, that is, a steel frame over the pit and the bonnet that protects both the driver and the vehicle from the falling trees. The bulldozers will actually be employed for all kinds of jobs, including clearing the strips of forest land off all vegetation so that a geological survey unit

January 29, 2014. The Director of UralNIIproyekt RAASN Alexander Dolgov and Director of OOO Terem Victor Siminenko were asked to prepare the cost estimates of having the historic walls of Yekaterinburg Central Stadium relocated, the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region’s Information Policies Department reports. Alexander Dolgov and Victor Siminenko have already presented several projects on the reconstruction of the stadium that is expected to host four World Cup matches in 2018. Under the first project, walls would be cut down to several parts, relocated and re-assembled at a new site. Under the

January 29, 2014. This year, the inflow of foreign travelers to Sverdlovsk Region might increase because of a simplified visa issuance procedure for the in-transit passengers; this simplified procedure option is now being discussed by the legislative authorities. The procedure in question would mean that transit passengers from 45 different countries arriving to Russian airports would be able to enjoy a 72-hour visa-free admission regime here, Director of Tourism Development Center Elmira Tukanova said at a press conference. ‘We made sure we took part in the international exhibitions in those

January 29, 2014. The Central Bank feels that as this virtual currency is issued anonymously, private individuals and legal entities might (even accidentally) get involved in some unlawful activities, Bank Koltso Urala states. ‘The Bank of Russia warns both private individuals and legal entities, lending institutions and non-lending financial institutions first and foremost, against the use of ‘virtual currency’, that is, exchanging this for goods (work, services) or legal tenders such as rubles or foreign currency. According to Article 27 of the Federal Act on the Central Bank of the Russian

January 29, 2014. Russian travelers have been unable to leave Phuket Airport for Yekaterinburg since January 27 because UTair’s chartered flight 5 140 gets delayed. Their Boeing 757-200 was to have taken off at 9:50 AM on January 27 but the departure was actually put off till another day. UTair’s chartered flight 5 140 from Phuket to Yekaterinburg is delayed because our Boeing 757-200 aircraft arrived in Phuket late. This, in its turn, had to do with a series of delays (caused by other factors)of a number of other flights that this particular plane was used for,’ the airline’s press service

January 28, 2014. The Russian online hotel booking service called Oktogo.ru came up with the list of the most popular tourist destinations in Russia last year. In terms of cities most often traveled to, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Sochi, Nizhniy Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Krasnodar, Kaliningrad, and Yaroslavl were the top ten cities, The rating offered by Oktogo.ru was based on the online hotel booking data relating to the Russian citizens’ booking activity in 2013. ‘In 2013, Russian residents stayed in Yekaterinburg for three days and paid 3,700 RUR a day for their hotel