March 14, 2013. In order to reduce the damage to road surface, save money on repairs, and increase the lifespan of the roads, Sverdlovsk Region Government issued a decree that imposes a temporary limitation on using the local highways during the spring 2013 snow-thawing season, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s Press Service & Information Department reports. Sverdlovsk Region Government’s decree 207-PP on a temporary limitation on using the local highways in 2013 (valid for 30 days), dated February 21, 2013, is valid on April 20-May 19 and means that vehicles with or without cargo with more

March 14, 2013. A new Lithuanian visa center will open in Yekaterinburg soon, Interfax reports. On March 12, an opening ceremony for Lithuania’s visa center took place in Moscow. The Lithuanian Ambassador to Russia Renatas Norkus said that more visa centers would open in 14 Russian cities in late March and early April. ‘Following the opening of the visa centers, a Schengen visa will become more easily available for those who are planning to travel around the Schengen area,’ the Ambassador said.

March 14, 2013. Urals’ Repairs & Building Unit (RSKU), Uralvagonzavod’s former repairs division, has now become a fully independent company. The organization is now ready to enter Nizhniy Tagil building market, Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s press service reports. One year ago, Uralvagonzavod’s division was reorganized into a close joint-stock company and became legally and economically independent. RSKU is now a part of UVZ and the general contractor for all the repair and building jobs at the corporation’s head plant. However, now it also offers some new kinds

March 14, 2013. Russian citizens’ repayment history got considerably worse in 2012. As of January 1, 2013, the credit health index dropped by ten points down to the lowest point since October 2010: 109 points. This is 2 points lower than on October 1, 2012, and 6 points lower than on January1, 2012. Credit health kept deteriorating in October 2008-July/October 2009, but it later went on recovering until January 2012. In April 2012, a slight decrease was seen for the first time since October 2009, and this trend has continued up to now, NBKI and FICO’s joint research states. Starting from

March 13, 2013. The Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Igor Kholmanskikh and Governor of Sverdlvosk Region Evgeny Kuivashev visited Sinara Pipe Plant (SinTZ), a member of Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK), the company’s press officer reports. The officials were accompanied by TMK BOD Chairman Dmitri Pumpyansky and SinTZ Managing Director Sergey Chetverikov. The high-profile visitors were shown the technology of manufacturing hot-rolled pipes from carbon and alloyed steels at Pipe-Rolling Department 3 (T-3) that makes over 375,000 tons of

March 13, 2013. Residents of the Titanium Valley Special Economic Zone will have all their corporate income tax dropped for ten fiscal periods. The changes in the Sverdlovsk Region law on corporate income tax rates for certain local taxpayers were adopted today, the regional government’s Press Service & Information Department reports. This measure aims to create a competitive advantage for the special economic zone’s future residents. The relief will apply from the moment a company makes its first profit rather than from the day a company registers as a resident. Later on, between the

March 13, 2013. Four swamp tractors T-10MB produced by Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant Uraltrac (ChTZ) will be added to the fleet of vehicles operated by Arktikatransexcavatsiya, the spokesperson for Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation reports. The tractors will operate on the coast of the Kara Sea in Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Region and will be used for building infrastructure for the O&G companies and improving ice roads. The tractors will be used both as tow cars and bulldozers: the end users can attach the swamp units to them themselves, for which purpose the tractors

March 13, 2013. Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service imposed a 300,000- ruble fine on Rostelecom for the latter’s failing to provide the required data on time, the division’s press service reports. On December 10, 2012, an application was submitted to Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service by Voyentelecom. The agency then sent a query to Rostelecom’s Yekaterinburg branch in order to confirm or refute the fact that the company was violating the existing antimonopoly agreement. However, the Yekaterinburg branch did not provide any

March 13, 2013. A new Supervisory Board of Development Corpriation was elected at the company’s extraordinary general meeting in Yekaterinburg, the company’s press service reports. In the course of the meeting, the corporation’s shareholders terminated the powers of the Board members and appointed new executives. The corporation’s new Supervisory Board now comprises: Assistant to Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Boris Kirillov, Director of Sverdlovsk Region Public Property Management Ministry’s Coordination Committee Nikolai Berdnikov,

March 12, 2013. Some festive events took place at Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s head plant to celebrate the anniversary of the day Ural Volunteer Tank Corps was founded (March 11, 1943). Uralvagonzavod acted as one of the founding fathers of this unique military unit seventy years ago, the corporation’s press service says. The actual volunteers offspring – their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren – gathered at Uralvagonzavod’s museum facility on the day of people’s feat; those who served in the famous tank division after the war also attended the

March 12, 2013. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development launched a new ad campaign of its multi-purpose bank card. The campaign is dubbed ‘Your Very Own Bank’ and is based on a story that resembles a bank robbery: five people decided to ‘rob a bank’. The operation was quite a success: they took ‘their very own bank’ with them and were very satisfied with the result: they got one card that ensures all the core banking services, the bank’s press office says. ‘The main idea behind this ad campaign is to show the customers that all the most popular services such as deposits, loans, and

March 12, 2013. The Development Corporation Project might serve as a potential growth point for the creation of an O & G cluster in Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region-Yugra, the Academic Secretary of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Presidium Christophe Yakubson said at a meeting attended by Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President Igor Kholmanskikh and Governor of Khanty-Mansiysky Autonomous Region Natalia Komarova, the corporation’s press service reports. The meeting took place in Nizhnevartovsk on March 6, 2013. The main point on the agenda had to do with the

March 12, 2013. Three new branches of VUZ-Bank were launched in Chelyabinsk Region recently, namely, in Kyshtym, Chebarkul, and Magnitogorsk. All the three branches offer their customers a full range of banking services for private individuals, the bank’s press service reports. The Magnitogorsk branch is now the bank’s 5th one in town, while the branches in Chebarkul and Kyshtym are currently the only outlets of VUZ-Bank in these towns. All in all, VUZ-Bank currently runs 19 offices in Chelyabinsk Region. VUZ-Bank has launched 9 new branches in Ural Federal District since the beginning of the

March 12, 2013. The volume of shipments handled by Sverdlovsk Railways came to 9.6m tons in February 2013, which was 3.3% less than a year earlier. At the same time, the average daily shipments volume rose y 0.1% against February 2012: despite the growing intensiveness of shipments, the final figures look worse this year mainly because this February was shorter than the last (2012 was a leap year), Sverdlovsk Railways’ press service reports. The freight turnover decreased by 2.3% in February 2013 against a year earlier and amounted to 14.23bn ton-kilometers. According to the current data, the

March 11, 2013. Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant (ChTPZ) saved over 400m RUR due to rationalization efforts last year. Over 1,500 good ideas (which comes to 90% of all the proposals) were launched at Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant and Pervouralsk New Pipe Plant’s ‘white metallurgy’ departments, the company’s press service reports. All these improvement ideas are targeted at cost savings, improving the quality of produce, increasing productivity, enhancing labor safety, and expanding the lifespan of equipment. Designing a new algorithm for customizing the settings of the coupling sleeve making

March 11, 2013. As of January 1, 2013, the volume of private individuals’ ruble deposits in Ural Federal District-based banks exceeded that of the foreign currency deposits by nearly three times. What is more, the ruble deposits increased by 22% (62.6bn RUR), the foreign currency ones (in ruble equivalents) rose by 8.2% (2.5bn RUR). If one does not take the declining foreign currency exchange rate (in nominal terms) into account, the volume of foreign currency deposits increased by 13.3% in 2012. When one does take the changes in the foreign currency exchange rate into account, the increase

March 11, 2013. Nizhniy Tagil’s public prosecution authorities for the environment and Sverdlovsk Region Natural Resources & Environment Ministry investigated a case of jet fuel soil contamination in the village of Pokrovskoye-1. Prigorodny District, Sverdlovsk Region, the press service for Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution authorities reports. An inspection revealed that a lot of barrels with some cables and hoses attached to them were half-buried in the snow on the territory of about 30 hectares. No kerosene was being produced at the time of check. Experts took some samples of ice

March 11, 2013. A complaint was placed with Sverdlovsk Region division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service by OOO Minimax; the company complained about the actions of a tender committee at Ural Electromechanical Plant Federal State Unitary Enterprise when the latter conducted an open e-query on price quotations for DKC components (DIN rail, cable duct, and a wire tray). The query was to be followed by the signature of a contract for the delivery of the said components, the division’s press officer reports. The complaint states that the company would like the antimonopoly body to annul the

March 11, 2013. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant/ChTZ (a member of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation) is about to convert its mass-produced B-11 and B-14 bulldozers to joystick-controlled mode, Uralvagonzavod’s press service reports. It is explained that the joystick-controlled B-14 makes were presented to the company’s dealers at a special vehicles exhibition that took place on the eve of a big trade representatives meeting. This tractor, with all its modern ergonomic characteristics and design, will hit the assembly line soon. The new make is the evolutionary result of the

March 7, 2013. TMK, one of the world's leading OCTG manufacturers, prepared a performance report for 2012. The sales of weldless pipes rose by 7% compared with a year earlier and amounted to 2,495,000 tons. The OCTG sales increased by 15% against 2011, mainly thanks to the Russian oil producers’ activity in terms of survey and production, TMK’s press service reports. The total sales volume remained nearly the same as in 2011 and came to 4,238,000 tons. The welded pipe sales decreased by 5% on the year 2011 and reached 1,743,000 tons. At the same time, the OCTG and welded line pipe sales