The 70th track-and-field contest was held in Nizhniy Tagil recently, with prizes awarded by Machinostroitel, Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s corporate newspaper. The contest was dedicated to the newspaper’s 80th anniversary and gathered 93 teams, the corporation’s press service reports. Every year, teams from each of Uralvagonzavod’s divisions take part in the contest. This year, not only the representatives of the corporation’s head enterprise, but also workers from Nizhniy Tagil-based Transport Machine-Building Design Bureau and Uralcryomash, Yekaterinburg-based

Sverdlovsk Region trade unions used the court mechanisms to make the local employers stick to a 36-hour working week for the trade industry, the press service of Sverdlovsk Region Federation of Trade Unions reports. ‘Under Sverdlovsk Region Court’s ruling, METRO Cash & Carry will have to switch to a 36-hour working week for its employees, and offer them a 4% rise and seven extra days of paid holiday a year. This ruling actually sets a precedent, because it makes the employers at other shopping centers offer their workers the same compensation. This has to do with the fact that

Yekaterinburg is one of the cities with the most extensively booked hotels alongside such cities as Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, and Kazan. Russian travelers who coordinate their trips themselves typically book hotel rooms for business trips rather than tourist visits for three days on average, ProHotel, a web portal dedicated to the hotel industry, reports. However, Yekaterinburg was not among the cities where the number of bookings increased during the high season. The fact that the hotels in Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, and Novosibirsk are mostly popular with

The workers of ChTPZ Group – the representatives of the production, technical, and commercial departments of the company – took part in a retreat coordinated by Gazprom’s daughter enterprise Gazprom Dobycha Astrakhan. The pipe manufacturers could look at how natural gas is produced right at the natural gas deposit, ChTPZ press service reports. Before the end of the year, such traveling seminars will be held for ChTPZ employees at Gazprom’s other daughter enterprises: Gazprom Transgaz Yekaterinburg (in order to introduce the workers to gas transportation process and the repair and maintenance

According to the Federal Treasury, the Ural Federal District-based constituencies’ consolidated budget showed a surplus of 77bn RUR in the first half of 2012. Expenses came 374.6bn RUR and revenues amounted to 451.7bn RUR, Rosstat announced. Russia’s Federal Tax Service’s updates show that the in-flow of taxes, levies, and other obligatory payments rose by 20% in Ural Federal District in the first half of the year compared with a year earlier and reached 1,411bn RUR. Debts resulting from unpaid taxes and levies to the Russian Federation’s consolidated budget came to 49bn RUR for Ural Federal

A shift foreman was killed at EVRAZ NTMK furnace shop on September 14, a Nizhniy Tagil-based news agency Vse Novosti reports. The accident occurred at about 6:30 AM when the foreman was inspecting the department. According to some reports, the 40-year-old was hit by train footstep and drawn under the train.

The final stage of the international tournament Ural Steel 2012 dedicated to the computer game World of Tanks took place in Moscow. Russian teams won the first three prizes, Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s press service reports. For the second year in a row, contests dedicated to one of the most popular multi-player online games have been supported by Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation, Russia’s leading producer of combat tanks. The super-play-off featured the strongest teams: four Russian ones, four teams from North America, and four teams from

Ordzhonikidzevsky District of Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor (the consumer rights agency) received a complaint regarding the violation of consumers’ rights through rendering poor quality services at OOO Auto-Leader-Center at 8 Kosmonavtov Ave (Off 5) in Yekaterinburg on August 28, 2012, Ordzhonikidzevsky District of Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor reports. The agency reacted to the complaint by taking administrative action against Auto-Leader-Center and by inquiring for the information necessary. Following Zheleznodorozhny District of Sverdlovsk Region division of

Ural Airlines’ first Moscow-Nukus-Moscow flight was operated the other day. The flight’s popularity was obvious not only because all the seats had passengers in them, but also due to the solemn welcome that the flight’s first passengers and Ural Airlines’ representatives received in Uzbekistan, the air carrier’s press service reports. The flight-launching ceremony was attended personally by Deputy Chairman of the Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan’s Cabinet Zhenis Yembergenov and Nukus Airport Director-General Kenzhebai Khudaibergenov, who gave the crew and the airline representatives some

President of the Republic of Latvia Andris Bērziņš and Director-General of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation Oleg Sienko met in Riga, the corporation’s press service reports. For one, the meeting was dedicated to the implementation of a project on putting up a railway carriages-making and repairing plant. After the meeting, Sienko told reporters that President Bērziņš backed up the corporation’s plans. Jelgava was chosen as the location for the plant, and this has already been approved of by the local authorities. The prospective enterprise will be a compact and a fully

Under the Russian Government’s decision, Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ) got on the list of forest fire-fighting vehicles manufacturers from whom the state customers will be purchasing in 2012 without any tender, Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s press service reports. The acquisition of the necessary vehicles through a direct order placement with the sole supplier will help faster to re-equip the specialized forest fire-fighting organizations. This procedure will guarantee the delivery of good quality produce by the manufacturer without any intermediaries, ChTZ Deputy

Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant presented its B11 bulldozer at the international building industry exhibition BUDPRAGRES 2012 in Byelorussia, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service refers to Deputy Sales Center Director Alexander Sergeyev as saying. Minsk’s largest road and construction vehicles exhibition that features a wide range of digging devices comprised 332 participants this year, including Byelorussian manufacturers as well as companies from the United States, South Korea, Great Britain, and Russia. Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant presented this year’s predecessor, the B10-M bulldozer, in

MMK Group announces some new appointments: Sergey Ushakov will now become MMK-METIZ Director, Vladimir Lebedev has been appointed Director of Mechanical Repairs Unit, and Sergey Berdnikov was promoted to Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Deputy Director for Capital Construction. ‘MMK management has always been guided by one basic principle when shaping the company’s management potential: professionalism and universal applicability of the managers’ skills and competences. Nowadays, one cannot limit oneself to the narrow professional field of very deep but very local knowledge of

On September 14, an exhibition presentation will be coordinated at Yekaterinburg Central Stadium within the framework of Ural Industrial Biennale of Contemporary Art. The biennale will be held from September 13, 2012 to October 22, 2012, with support from Russia’s Culture Ministry, the Governor Administration, Sverdlovsk Region Government, and Yekaterinburg Municipal Council, Sinara Group’s PR Center reports. Ural Industrial Biennale is the largest international exhibition that houses its exhibits not on the traditional museum floor but on the premises of industrial enterprises

The trade turnover between Sverdlovsk Region and Ukraine rose by 25% (about $70m) in the first six months of the year. Also, Ukraine launched its Consulate-General in Yekaterinburg in August 2012, which means the two areas now have more possibilities for cooperation, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s press service reports. Sverdlovsk Region Foreign Economic Relations Minister Alexander Kharlov points out that the region has great potential in building up on its cooperation with Ukraine. Sverdlovsk Region is willing to supply medical equipment to the country and import agricultural produce from

The profit of OAO MRSK Urala came to 168.372m RUR in the first half of 2012, which is 15.8 times less than in the first half of 2011 (2,664,790,000 RUR), the company reports. Profits from the company’s assets selling electric power amounted to 1,800,298,000 RUR on June 30, 2012, which is nearly two times less than a year earlier (2,694,125,000 RUR). ‘The decrease in profits has to do with Bogoslovsky smelter: this company stopped buying electricity from us in January 2012 and is now connected directly to the electric network of UES Federal Network Company. What is more, the rates were lowered

On September 19, the region-wide professional skills contest called Glory to the Man of Labor (in the Turner category, to be precise) will be held at OAO Uraltransmash, Uralvagonzavod Corporation’s press service reports. The Glory to the Man of Labor Project is meant to enhance the prestige of vocational jobs and the professional skills of the contestants, and to attract young workers to the production field. This time, the most highly qualified turners from the different enterprises in the region will compete in the contest. The competition will be held on the production premises of

The amount of goods produced by Sverdlovsk Region’s defense industry will be nearly 30% greater in 2012 than in 2011, the region’s Industry & Science Minister Vladislav Pinayev says. The share of military and special-purpose products comes to about 50% of all the goods produced in the defense sector. The government orders also rose by nearly two times against last year, the region’s Press Service Administration reports.

On September 12, an illegitimately built multi-storey apartment building was pulled down in Yekaterinburg. The city council and Ordzhonikidzevsky Department of Court Bailiffs supervised the dismantling jobs at 115 Botkinskaya St. Earlier on, the pull-down jobs were stopped after Yekaterinburg Ordzhonikidzevsky District court ruled on April 27, 2011 that the implementation of its decrees could be postponed. The building was pulled down following the decision of Ordzhonikidzevsky District court on the claim laid by Yekaterinburg Municipal Council and Ordzhonikidzevsky District public

Sverdlovsk Region Government Prime Minister Denis Pasler held a work meeting with head of the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development for Ural Federal District and Perm Territory Evgeny Ofrikhter. The parties looked into the issues related to cooperating in the field of infrastructure and industrial investment projects, Sverdlovsk Region Government’s Press Service Administration reports. Ofrikhter presented the EBRD’s options for supporting the investment projects in the region to the Prime Minister. He pointed out that the EBRD was operating in all the sectors of industry