January 10, 2013. Yekaterinburg residents now have the opportunity of getting their multiple Schengen visas needed for travel or for medical treatment abroad at the Czech Republic’s local consulate, the consulate’s press service reports. ‘This is to inform you that the Consulate-General of the Czech Republic in Yekaterinburg is to adjust its current Schengen visa-issuing policy starting on January 1, 2013. The visas needed for travel or for medical treatment abroad will be available in one-time-entry and multiple-entry formats,’ the consulate’s website states. The multiple Schengen visa

January 10, 2013. Ural Federal University is going to hold an international tender for the position of the Provost for Social, Economic and Management Sciences & Humanities. This decision is aimed at enhancing the university’s competitiveness, the college’s press service reports. UFU’s new Provost will have to work on integrating the university’s humanities studies into the international academic community. The number of publications in peer-reviewed journals and other cited papers is also expected to go up, as are both the number and the volume of financially backed-up international and

January 10, 2013. STM-Service (a part of Sinara Transport Machines) came up with the results of its professional contest in 2012. The company employees provide O & M services for the fleet of 231 Sinara 2ES6 Series locomotives at Sverdlovsk, South-Ural, and West-Siberian Railways. The locos are serviced at 10 O&M centers and units, the company’s press service says. The contest prizes were awarded in three categories: Best Service Division, Best Foreman, and Best Worker. The candidates for the first category were selected on the basis of the following criteria: meeting the target

January 10, 2013. Oblkommunenergo reports that New Year break proved trouble-free for the local energy sector. All the electric power supply units and the communal housing services infrastructure operated by the company worked stably during the public holidays: all the local residents’ dwellings had both heat and electric power available, the company’s press secretary says. This year’s break was much smoother than the previous year’s one. The launch of an on-call duty mode helped significantly to reduce the time spent on eliminating potential threats to the stable power supply. For one,

December 28, 2012. Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s head plant made its 120,000th car axle, which is a record for both the Nizhniy Tagil-based enterprise and the entire railway carriage-making industry. No other company either in Russia or abroad is capable of producing 30,000 car sets of axles a year. To celebrate this achievement, a solemn meeting took place at the plant’s department, the corporation’s press service reports. The standard production capacity of other such manufacturing lines comes to about 48,000 axles a year. Uralvagonzavod’s automatic line, which is

December 28, 2012. The year 2012 proved productive for all the sections of the corporation’s investment project. The Development Corporation’s energy sector activity deserves special attention, as it is in this area where the company achieved the most significant results,’ the corporation’s press office reports. First, this year the company successfully completed its project on putting up the infrastructure for the Purpe-Samotlor pipeline system. Within the framework of this project, Development Corporation commissioned two 110/10 kilowatt-substations and two 110-kilowatt electric mains for

December 28, 2012. Yekaterinburg Council’ press service reports that Mayor Alexander Yakob is expected to sign a special decree very soon that will reserve a land allotment in Vikulov St-Metallurgi St-Third Ring-Road-Verkh-Isetsky Pond for the housing of the World Universal Exhibition EXPO 2020. The area of this allotment comes to 555 hectares. The site was chosen primarily because, after the EXPO 2020 is over, this territory, with all the created engineering infrastructure, will serve for the good of the city. According to the current plant, the northern part of Tatishchev St up to the shore

December 28, 2012. Auchan was fined for violating the labor and labor protection legislation. This decision was taken after the company was checked for compliance with the labor, tax, and migration laws, Sverdlovsk Region division of State Labor Inspectorate’s press officer reports. The inspection was carried out upon the request placed by the public prosecution authorities of Yekaterinburg’s Verkh-Isetsky District. Following the detection of the violations, the chief state inspector for the trading sector issued a protocol on a temporary ban on Auchan’s activity; however, de facto the

December 28, 2012. Sinara Pipe Plant/SinTZ (a member of Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK)), is now putting up the first section of a training ground for the Personnel Training & Development Center. The ground is located on the industrial site of the B-3 pipe finishing shop, TMK press service reports. This is a part of Sverdlovsk Region continuous professional development program for 2011-2015. The project on setting up a training ground is included into Sinara Pipe Plant’s investment program in accordance with the regional Education Ministry and the plant’s cooperation concept. The

December 26, 2012. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) came up with an energy-saving report for MMK Group enterprises and its subdivisions in nine months of 2012. Over the given period, 142 energy-saving measures were taken in order to save on electric power, fuel, drinking water, manufacturing water, heating energy, and air separation products spending. 15 more measures are now being implemented in accordance with the schedule. As a result of all the steps taken in the nine months of 2012, the company will have saved over 5.8m kilowatt-hours worth of energy by the end of the year; this

December 27, 2012. End-of-year results were discussed at the traditional solemn gathering of Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s head plant’s employees. A number of guest speakers, winners of the Man of Labor Contest, and casts from I.V. Okunev Palace of Culture wished the workers happy holidays, the corporation’s press service reports. First, Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Igor Kholmanskikh walked onto the stage and gave a speech. In his recent past, Kholmanskikh was the head of Russia’s primary tank assembly line at Uralvagonzavod, so he

December 27, 2012. The employees of Uralvagonzavod Corporation received awards for their achievements in 2012: this year proved extremely successful and record-setting for the company. The enterprise’s production performance improved, and so did the remuneration for this: the average bonus came to 27,500 RUR, which is 1.4 times more than in 2011, the corporation’s press service reports. The bonus was given to about 28,000 people, including not only the head plant employees but also workers from Volchansky Mechanical Plant and the company’s Chelyabinsk subsidiary. The total payments amounted

December 27, 2012. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) came up with an energy-saving report for MMK Group enterprises and its subdivisions in nine months of 2012. Over the given period, 142 energy-saving measures were taken in order to save on electric power, fuel, drinking water, manufacturing water, heating energy, and air separation products spending. 15 more measures are now being implemented in accordance with the schedule. As a result of all the steps taken in the nine months of 2012, the company will have saved over 5.8m kilowatt-hours worth of energy by the end of the year; this

December 27, 2012. Seversky Pipe Plant (STZ), a member of Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK), contributed to the reconstruction of Cheburashka Kindergarten No. 60 in Polevskoy. The kindergarten received some 6m RUR to devise the project and design documentation and buy new furniture. The solemn ceremony for the opening of Cheburashka, fit for 110 children, took place on December 25. All the 110 children are expected to join the daycare throughout February. Thanks to STZ and Polevskoy Council’s long-term cooperation, the town now has the kindergarten buildings, which had earlier been used for

December 27, 2012. Sverdlovsk Region will be allocated 30m RUR worth of subsidies to support the federal constituencies that help and promote Russia’s emerging information society. The subsidies are provided within the framework of the state-run Information Society Program, the Russian Communications Ministry’s website reports. Sverdlovsk Region became one of the 22 federal constituencies that won in the information society development contest. All in all, a total 670m RUR worth of subsidies will be allocated this year, with sums varying from 3.5m RUR for Stavropol Territory to 50m RUR for

December 26, 2012. Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation (UVZ) became a laureate of Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Energy-Saving Prize in 2012. The corporation was given a diploma in the Best Machine-Building Organization category, UVZ press service reports. The award was given to the company’s Director-General Oleg Sienko for his effective management of the business that resulted in great energy savings and enhanced energy efficiency. Uralvagonzavod’s combined heat and power plant is strategically important not only for the corporation itself but for the entire city of

December 26, 2012. In 2012, the retail trade turnover in Yekaterinburg will amount to 630bn RUR, Mayor of Yekaterinburg Alexander Yakob said in the course of a TV show called Open Studio Yekaterinburg. ‘This year, our forecast stands at 630bn RUR: this is a very large figure. Last year was a record-setting one as well, as a matter of fact, this was the best figure among all Russian cities with the population over 1m people: we finished last year off with 563bn RUR,’ Yakob said.

December 26, 2012. Deputy Governor of Tyumen Region Sergey Degtyar was appointed Vice President of TNK-BP Management, the Governor of Tyumen Region’s press service reports. Degtyar was appointed Deputy Governor on July 1, 2009. His duties involved working on the project known as Buy Tyumen-Made Goods and improving on cooperation with the trading businesses. Degtyar will assume new office in the oil company on January 9, 2013. Governor of Tyumen Region Vladimir Yakushev announced that the coordination of and control over the licensing and Tyumen Region consumer market regulation will now

December 26, 2012. The representatives of German companies that are members of Vossloh AG Concern paid a visit to Lyudinovsky Diesel Locomotive-Building Plant (a member of Sinara Transport Machines). The locomotive manufacturers presented their projects and made their presentations for the German party and talked about the production cooperation prospects with them, Sinara Group’s press officer says. The German delegates, chaired by Vice President for the CIS and Mongolia René Kaltenborn, had a tour of the company’s main departments and looked at its innovational TE8 Super Skid and TEM14

December 26, 2012. A special agreement was signed by Sverdlovsk Region Government, the regional-scale employer organization called Sverdlovsk Region Union of Industrialists & Entrepreneurs, and Sverdlovsk Region Trade Union Federation. The document is only a short-term one for the time being and will be valid in 2013-2014. This agreement determines the general principles for regulating the social and labor relations and the corresponding economic relations in Sverdlovsk Region. The agreement is targeted at providing socioeconomic stability in this federal constituency. For one, the paper