August 13, 2013. Investigative auhorities are now looking into the actions taken by the management of Yugoria Insurance Company and Advance Medical Company in order to give their assessment. The spokesperson for the public prosecution authorities of Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region reports it has been determined that Yekaterinburg-based Advance offered more than 200m RUR worth of medical services to people who took out voluntary medical insurance policies with Yugoria State Insurance Company. However, it turned out Advance did not actually render any medical services to customers, as the

August 12, 2013. Ural Airlines now offers a special price on flights from Yekaterinburg to Moscow and back. One-way tickets start from 4,370 RUR (plus the fuel fee) and are already available for sale both on the company website ( www.uralairlines.com) and at the booking offices, the airline's press service reports. Ural Airlines currently operates up to 5 Yekaterinburg-Moscow-Yekaterinburg flights daily.

August 12, 2013. The American chain Quiznos is planning to open up to 500 restaurants in Russia in the nearest decade; this includes a number of points in Yekaterinburg: a restaurant is expected to be opened here in 2014, RIA Novosti reports. Quiznos announced its entrance in 2012. In Russia, the development of the chain is supervised by QSR Russia Ltd, an international management company and master franchisee. The first two fast food restaurants Quiznos Sub were launched in Saint Petersburg in the summer. The company intends to focus on cities with population over 1m people: Yekaterinburg,

August 12, 2013. Aeroflot Russian Airlines, a partner of Yekaterinburg EXPO 2020 Application Committee, had the exhibition's official logo painted on the bodies of two of its aircraft, the airline's press service says. The World Exhibition is one of the largest-scale international events with a many years' history. EXPO exhibitions are held every five years and last for six months. A decision to appoint a host country for the event is made by the government. EXPO 2020 has grown to become one of Russia's priority national projects, just like the Sochi Olympics in 2014 and

August 12, 2013. Sverdlovsk Region's state debt declined by 10m RUR in July 2013 and amounted to 18.37bn RUR on August 1, 2013, the region's Finance Ministry reports. This means Sverdlovsk Region has managed to decrease its state debt by 2,37bn RUR since the beginning of the year.

August 12, 2013. According to the statistical data available, Ural Federal District and Siberian Federal District invest the least amount of money into the hotel sector among other constituencies — about 1.5bn RUR, the findings of a research by INFOline called 180 Hotel Construction Projects in Russia in 2013-2016 state. According to this research findings, the greatest amount of hotel sector investments is seen in Central, Southern, and North-Western Federal Districts. On average, a little under 6bn RUR gets invested in a single hotel in these federal districts. All in all, the amount of

August 9, 2013. The seventh stage of the Russian Shooting Cup, with prizes dedicated to the memory of A.I. Brizhan, was coordinated at the shooting range of Sinara Sports Club; the club was founded by Sinara Pipe Plant (SinTZ), a member of Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK), SinTZ press service reports. The clay pigeon shooting competition was held at Sinara Club for the first time in 2011; last year, the contest was given the Russian Cup status. The championship was set up by Sinara Pipe Plant in memory of Anatoly I. Brizhan, who was head of Sinara Pipe Plant for more than 25 years and founded

August 9, 2013. Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution authorities for the environment conducted a scheduled inspection of Kamensk-Uralsky Metallurgical Plant (KUMZ) and detected some grave violations of the law, the press service for Ural Federal District division of the General Prosecutor's Office reports. The inspection revealed that the plant, which is using the local water resources, has been dumping manufacturing water into the River Iset and Volkovskoye Reservoir; now the amount of pollutants dumped actually exceeds the legal limits. A number of lab tests showed that the maximum

August 9, 2013. 921 instances of violating the Russian Federation phyto-sanitary requirements were revealed at Koltsovo Airports checkpoint in July 2013, Sverdlovsk Region division of Rosselkhoznadzor (the state agricultural watchdog)'s press service reports. 1,850 kg of regulated products were confiscated from passengers' luggage and carry-on luggage at Koltsovo Airport's state border checkpoint in the course of phyto-sanitary inspections between July 1 and August 4, 2013. 1,081 kg of restricted goods were brought to Yekaterinburg from Tajikistan, 614 kg were brought from

August 9, 2013. SKB-Bank's own money order system called beGOm keeps expanding. The service was recently made available at 150 offices of Eskhata Bank located in some 20 cities and towns of Tajikistan, the bank's press officer says. Customers can now benefit from BeGOm services at 489 branches of various Kyrgyzstan- and Tajikistan- based banks. Last year, Bakai Bank and Aiyl Bank from Kyrgyzstan joined the system, and Eskhata Bank from Tajikistan followed suit in March 2013; in April, beGOm was introduced at Kyrgyzstan-based EcoIslamicBank. What makes beGOm money orders so

August 9, 2013. The amount of apartments for sale on Yekaterinburg existing homes market has dropped by 4% since the beginning of the summer and reached 8,700 to 9,200 apartments, Ural Chamber of Real Estate's analytical research says. At the same time, the current supply is actually 29% bigger than at the start of 2013. Existing homes prices rose by 0.4% over the last four weeks. The only exception was the city's fifth most expensive district, where prices declined by 1.5% and came to 51,748 RUR per sq m. The fluctuations stayed within 1% range, which means the market has retained

August 8, 2013. An exercise therapy class was recently open at Karabashmed's health unit, Russian Copper Company's PR Administration reports. A trampoline, some bar-bells, an exercise disk, a pres bar, a hoola hoop, a mini stepper, a fitness ball, a skip rope, and a sit-up bench have already been purchased as class equipment. You can also have your blood pressure checked and have an oxygen cocktail here. According to senior primary health worker Zaituna Shaikhovna, the workers come willingly, first and foremost because they want to keep fit, build up some muscles, and improve the

August 8, 2013. 45,430 new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles were sold in Yekaterinburg in January-June 2013, which was 7%, or 3,159 cars less than a year earlier. Auto-Dealer-Yekaterinburg reports that 8,032 automobiles were sold in Yekaterinburg in June, which was 12%, or 1,131 cars less than in June 2012. Auto-Dealer-Yekaterinburg's Director-General Mikhail Chaplygin says that if the current sales trend continues, up to 90,000 cars might be sold in Yekaterinburg by the end of 2013, which will be 7.5% less than in 2012. 'Last year's figures could be attained if the

August 8, 2013. Ural Airlines announces a sale on tickets for flights from Moscow to Novosibirsk and back, the company's press service reports. The price of a round trip ticket to Novosibirsk and back, with flight operated between August 20 and December 15, 2013, now starts from 7,000 RUR (one way, fees excluded). The special price offer is good when booking between August 6 and September 15. Ural Airlines' Moscow-Novosibirsk-Moscow flight is operated daily on the comfortable Airbus liners that have both the economy and the business class section.

August 8, 2013. UC RUSAL might halt its electrolysis production facilities at five smelters of its West Aluminum Division (Volgogradsky, Ural, Bogoslovsky, Nadvoitsky, and Volkhovsky smelters) until the price of aluminum goes back to $2,400 per 1,000kg, Interfax refers to the company's Director-General Oleg Deripaska as saying. According to Deripaska, the loss-making enterprises in the Urals and the North-West of Russia are now fully subsidized by the profit-making plants in Siberia. 'It is already obvious that we cannot keep the prime cost of our produce at the same level: the

August 8, 2013. Ilya Dmitriyev was appointed MegaFon Ural's IT Director. The company's press service says that the former IT Director Anna Belosheikina became Head of MegaFon Ural's Sverdlovsk Region division in May 2013. MegaFon Ural Director Valeriy Velichko says IT technologies are becoming increasingly more important in the telecommunications sector; not only are they responsible for the uninterrupted accessibility of corporate systems and applications, but they also make an impact on business results and the company's success on the whole. 'The reliability and

August 7, 2013. Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) supplied its goods and maintenance services relating to the fracturing job on a well in Davydovsky oil deposit that belongs to Orenburgneft (a member of NK Rosneft); the fracturing job will be done by the oil servicing company Schlumberger. According to the company's press service, this is the first time TMK's premium produce will be used in a fracturing job. Unlike regular pipes, pipes with enhanced maintenance characteristics guarantee reliable fixture of stands, whatever the workload, and the necessary air-tightness when used,

August 7, 2013. METCOMBANK is now launching new technologies aimed at reducing fraud risks; these technologies have already proved efficient, as 10 fraud attempts involving credit cards were prevented in the first month of the launch alone, the bank's press service reports. The bank analysts look into every transaction that a customer performs 24/7, and if there are grounds to suspect it can be a fraudulent action, they contact the cardholder over the phone to find out if this was really them who performed this transaction. 'Ensuring the total safety of all the transactions is above

August 7, 2013. MegaFon subscribers now have a unique opportunity to pay for their shopping at the online store Ozon.ru using their mobile phone account. In fact, if you use your mobile account to pay for the shopping before August 31, free delivery is offered. MegaFon's press officer reports. The service is available within the popular Mobile Payments system. Thanks to this system, MegaFon subscribers pay their Internet, TV, and housing bills as well as road police fines and restaurant bills and make loan repayments and much else besides; they can also use the service to make money

August 7, 2013. The international rating agency Standard & Poor’s placed Uralkaliy's (URKA+5.39%) long-term credit rating BBB- and the national scale ruAAA rating on the Rating Watch list, and this might actually be demoted in the future, Prime reports. The rating agency explains that the rating has to be reconsidered after Uralkaliy announced on July 30 that it would stop dealing in export sales through Belaruskaliy. S&P experts believe that under these circumstances, the company's solvency might drop below the BBB- level, as giving up on export sales will exert some