January 28, 2014. The iPhone 5S and 5C smartphones now get MegaFon 4G/LTE support, the telecommunications provider’s press service reports. ‘Starting January 25, a new update that activates Russia’s largest 4G network is available for Apple iPhone 5S and 5C smartphones. The super-fast mobile network that can offer up to 100 Mb/sec in terms of speed is now available to the owners of four smartphone varieties: : iPhone 5S — A1457 and A1530 and iPhone 5C — A1507 and A1529. As early as November 2013, MegaFon’s 4G network also became available to the owners of other Apple devices such as the

January 28, 2014. 94,394 new passenger and light commercial vehicles were sold in Yekaterinburg last year, which was 6% or 5,796 cars less than in 2012, Auto-Dealer-Yekaterinburg reports. ‘8,631 automobiles were sold in Yekaterinburg in December, which was 1% or 73 cars more than in December 2012. For the second month in a row, the local automobile market kept growing. The last time the two-month market growth occurred was in early 2013 (January and February), whereupon sales kept declining every month,’ the agency’s message states. Lada still remains the best-selling vehicle of the year in

January 28, 2014. ChTPZ Group delivered a set of arc-welded pipes to the Byelorussian oil company Naftan. The pipes have the diameter of 530mm to 820mm and wall width of 10mm to 14mm; they are made from carbonated steel and will be used to reconstruct the primary crude oil processing unit, the pipe-rolling enterprise’s press service reports. ‘This order is specific in that we have to meet the customer’s particularly strict property requirements: the metal strength and the quality of the seam were tested at the temperature of 25 degrees centigrade below zero (the GOST standard requires that

January 28, 2014. Two Behringer band saw machines, one automated and one semi-automated one, were recently bought by Plant 9, a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation. This was part of the plant’s technical upgrade program. The equipment has already been installed and is expected to reach its full production capacity in the spring of 2014, Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s press service reports. The machines were purchased for the blank production sector and are supposed to replace the abrasive cutting-off equipment soon. Unlike this

January 27, 2014. UTair Aviation Company had the greatest number of emergencies last year among all the air carriers based in Ural Federal District, the district’s Deputy Public Prosecutor for Transportation Maxim Grishayev said at a press conference. ‘This was the case last year and the year before the last. However, the reason for such statistics is that the company operates over 400 aircraft,’ he explained. According to Grishayev, in most instances, the airplanes had to perform emergency landings because of false warnings. ‘The overall security index stands at more than 90% for all the

January 27, 2014. Experts from Municipal Transport Inspection carried out 1,102 inspections of how Yekaterinburg passenger transportation companies complied with their contract terms in 2013. The city council’s press service reports that 1,972 violations were detected, resulting in 159 warnings and 45 fines. ‘The violations mainly had to do with the schedule of these transportation companies, the insufficient number of carriages at work, and with the sanitary condition of the vehicles. What is more, inspectors tracked down the illegal operators that dealt in passenger transportation without a

January 27, 2014. An encyclopedia dedicated to the employees of Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ, a member enterprise of Uralvagonzavod) was published recently. According to the corporation’s press service, the Book on ChTZ People that was published by Chelyabinsk House of the Press, is an encyclopedia-style reference book on the enterprise employees with biographical sections on the workers who actually put up the plant, on the Great Patriotic War veterans, on workers with government awards, on outstanding service employees who became well known in Chelyabinsk Region and in Russia, on social

January 24, 2014. The construction of Palace of New Culture is now in progress at Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group); this is going to be an innovative site for training and creative development of young workers, the enterprise's press service reports. The project on Palaces of New Culture has been implemented by the Russian Federation Culture Ministry since 2012; this is supervised by Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev. Palaces of New Culture will also be put up in Vladivostok (Isle Russky) and in Kaluga. Pervouralsk is the first city where the

January 24, 2014. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant Deputy Director-General for Human Resources Oleg Kosykh and Chairman of the plant's Long-Service Employee Council Nikolai Lozhchenko congratulated the plant's legendary turner Vassily Gusev on his 90th birthday. The man of the day was glad to receive his gift – a recently published Book on ChTZ People, with one of the chapters dedicated to his renowned self,' the company's press service reports. 'The exhibition dedicated to Vassily V. Gusev was opened in the plant museum recently and proved popular with our visitors. The

January 24, 2014. January 23, 2014 is a special day for Uralvagonzavod – this is the 70th anniversary of phasing-in the legendary Great Victory tank, the T-34-85, Uralvagonzavod's press service reports. 'The Germans relied heavily on their new Tiger and Panther tanks at Kursk salient in 1943, which forced the Soviet designers to intensify their work on equipping their armored vehicles, including tanks, with some more powerful weaponry. A few months of hard work resulted in a new modification of Tank 34 – the T-34-85 tank that was phased in in January 1944 and two months later, the

January 24, 2014. The first produce of the Russian-Japanese joint venture Ural Wiring Systems that deals in production of automobile cord assembly for Renault and Nissan's Russian factories will roll off the production line in June 2014. This information was reported by the JV's Director-General Toru Shinagawa to Sverdlovsk Region Minister for International and Foreign Economic Relations Andrei Sobolev during a recent meeting. According to the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region's Information Policy Department, Sumitomo Wiring Systems and Radio Equipment Plant signed an agreement on

January 24, 2014. DHL, the express delivery service, will stop delivering goods from online shops based abroad on January 27. This has to do with the new, stricter customs regulations, DHL Yekaterinburg office told UrBC. There was some news on the Internet earlier that the Association of express delivery services (DHL, FedEx, Pony Express, UPS, DPD, TNT, and SPSR Express) are forced to stop importing express cargo with personal use items to Russia due to the more complicated customs declaration procedures. The problem is that the customs officers of Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport demand

January 23, 2014. 990 Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises will need foreign workers in 2014. Director of Sverdlovsk Region Labor & Employment Department Dmitri Antonov said at a press conference that the foreign worker quota was set at 40,048 people for this year, which is 11,000 fewer people than last year. ’10,000 foreign workers out of the total number will have a visa issued, the rest will be able to enter the country without a visa,’ he said. Sverdlovsk Region-based businesses mainly use foreign workers as general laborers, drivers, loader, and bus/tram conductors. According to the

January 23, 2014. The large and medium enterprises based in Sverdlovsk Region made a profit of 105.6bn RUR in January-November 2013, which was 39.5% less than last year, Sverdlovsk Region Economics Ministry’s press service refers to Sverdlovskstat as reporting. The profit of large and medium-sized profit-making companies actually amounted to 145.7bn RUR in January-November 2013, which fell short of the previous year’s figures by 28.4%. According to the data as of November 2013, there were 1,146 profit-making enterprises in Sverdlovsk Region, which is 67.7% of all the local businesses. The

January 23, 2014. Six departmental divisions of Uralvagonzavod (one in each production segment) were awarded the honorary title of Uralvagonzavod Golden Primary Youth Organization in 2013. According to Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s press service, there are currently 102 primary youth organizations within the company which unite over 7,000 young employees. All in all, the enterprise employs nearly 13,000 people under 35 years of age. ‘Given that the youth organizations aim at team-building and keeping the young plant workers socially active, the review covered a few

January 23, 2014. The Future of White Metallurgy, an educational project run by ChTPZ Group, received favorable feedback on an international scale. Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant (a member enterprise of ChTPZ Group) was visited by Michael Harms, Chairman of the Russian-German Foreign Trade Chamber’s Board. He came to get acquainted with the Future of White Metallurgy, a project based on the principle of dual education for blue-collar workers, the company’s press service reports. ‘I wanted to see for myself what ChTPZ Group’s initiative was about, and I can only speak in extremely favorable terms

January 23, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region division of Investigative Committee instituted criminal proceedings relating to violation of safety rules that resulted in death of two workers at Enel OGK-5, the subsidiary of Sredneuralskaya Power Station. In early October 2013, two workers got an electric shock that resulted in their deaths later, the committee’s press service reports. The accident occurred on October 5, 2013 at the enterprise’s electrical department division. One of the workers (53 y.o.) asked the other one (26 y.o.) for a voltage-checking device and held it too close to the conductive

January 22, 2014. Sverdlovsk Region Government decided at a meeting on January 21 that a certain sum of money should be allocated from the constituency's budget to Yekaterinburg Public Scientific Demidov Fund to subsidize prizes to prominent scientists in 2014-2016. 'Under Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Evgeny Kuivashev's decision, 1m RUR will be allocated from the budget to pay the prize sums in 2014,' the Governor's Information Policies Department reports. The prize is awarded for special achievements in such fields as physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology,

January 22, 2014. Head of Yekaterinburg Administration Alexander Yakob signed an agreement with the FIFA on holding the International Supporter Festival in 2014. Under the terms of the agreement, the festival will be held in V.V. Mayakovsky Central Culture & Entertainment Park. The first events are expected to take place as soon as mid-June. 'The choice of the location had to do with the strict requirements the FIFA imposes on the festival venues, including enough space for at least 5,000 people and for installing stages, stands, and HD screens to broadcast the football matches. What

January 22, 2014. Moscow's Tverskoy Court ruled that eco-activists Igor Zhitenev and Mikhail Bezmensky should remain in the detention unit until April 22, 2014, a website called Protecting Khoper says. Igor Zhitenev and Mikhail Bezmensky are accused of extorting money from UMMC representatives (Article 163 of the Russian Federation Criminal Code). The claim was laid against the activists by UMMC Counselor to Director-General Petr Yamov. 'Mikhail Bezmensky and Igor Zhitenev, who were detained on November 26, are charged with setting up an organized crime group that allegedly engaged