The international rating agency called off the ratings of five Russian telecommunications providers: Severo-Zapadny Telecom (SZT), VolgaTelecom, Central Telecommunications Company (CenterTelecom), Uralsvyazinform, and Southern Telecommunications Company (YuTK). The ratings of the companies’ liabilities were called off at the same time. The reorganization of seven Russian telecommunications operators merging with Rostelecom is now complete. The regional operators are no longer legal entities.

Ural Federal District’s division of Rosprirodnadzor (the state environmental watchdog) completed its scheduled inspections of how the government of Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Region are exercising the authority handed over from the Russian Federation in terms of water use regulations and the protection and use of the fauna not listed as the biological water resources; this covers the hunting resources as well. The control and regulations are to be carried out together with Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Region division of Rosprirodnadzor. The inspections revealed nineteen violations, resulting in

The net loss of OAO Utair Engineering rose by 74.9% in 2010 compared with 2009, that is, up to 94.63m RUR. The company explains this increase in the net loss by the fact that last year’s expenses exceeded their revenues.

Rostourism officially lifted all the bans on traveling to Egypt’s Red Sea resorts after a revolution broke out in the country early in 2011, RIA Novosti refers to the agency’s order uploaded on its website as stating. ‘We suggest that tour operators and travel agents (or their associations) should resume offering trips to Egypt to Russian tourists starting April 1, 2011,’ the order states. Rostourism still thinks Russian tourists coming to Egyptian resorts should be careful and watchful and shouldn’t go on day trips to other parts of the country.

Sverdlovsk Region’s chief federal inspector Viktor Minenko suggested that OAO Sevuralboksitruda (SUBR) management and trade unions send him a letter with their proposals on brining the situation back to normal by April 20, 2011. Minenko also asked for more cooperation between the bauxite mine’s management and trade unions. The decision to this extent was taken at the end of a meeting in Severouralsk dedicated to the interaction problems at the mine, the inspector’s press officer reports.

Igor Sorochan was appointed the General Director of ZAO Ural Turbine Plant recently. He is going to succeed Evgeny Kislitsyn, who is now moving on to one of Renova State Corporation’s enterprises in Moscow. Evgeny Kislitsyn ran the plant for two years. Igor Sorochan was the General Director of United Machine-Building Plants prior to this new appointment.

Sevuralboksitruda’s wage fund hasn’t increased a bit in two years, whereas the bauxite output has gone up and more demands are being placed on the miners,’ Chairman of SUBR trade union Talgat Sattarov argued at a recent meeting in Severouralsk chaired by Sverdlovsk Region’s chief federal inspector Viktor Minenko. The meeting was dedicated to interaction problems between the management and the trade unions of the mine. According to Sattarov, the miners are now forced to violate safety rules, sanitary regulations and personal hygiene norms to meet the target output figures. ‘A large

The imposition of stricter regulations by Russia’s Federal Financial Markets Service made yet another professional stock market player YAVA Finance Management quit the business. The company has already applied to the Service, asking to annul its license. The application has already been accepted. The investment company’s owners (the most important of whom is Uralsky Mezhregionalny Bank, a member of YAVA Corporation) made their decision because of the need to slim down their business and because the Service’s regulations grew harder to comply with. One such regulation has to do with the

The employees of Yekaterinburg-based Bank24.ru are now being subject to Polygraph testing because over 20 million RUR has been stolen from the bank customer’s account, says Sverdlovsk Region division of the Internal Affairs Ministry’s press officer Valery Gorelykh. According to the press officer, the main suspect is a woman who used some forged ID in the name of a Ms Zelertseva to steal over 21.5 million RUR from the bank in November 2010. The theft was detected when the customer who had the account in the bank, an advertising business executive, went abroad and asked for the money to be

Using one’s VISA card to pay for products and services is getting not only convenient but also economically expedient: VISA makes a unique offer to the Russian cardholders between April 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011; the offer is dubbed, ‘Try It – You’ll Love It.’ Bank Koltso Urala’s Payment Systems & Cards Department’s experts explain that any VISA cardholder, including the holders of cards issued by Koltso Urala, can pay for any products and services by his or her VISA card, spending any amount of money, in any place. The bank’s Payment Systems & Cards Director Olga Sharafeyeva

It has recently been detected that a number of Russian air carriers have been selling tickets for the flights not sanctioned by the aviation authorities. Sky Express, for example, signed chartered flights agreements to take its passengers to Pardubice, the Czech Republic, even though the permission to do this was not procured. Avianova started selling tickets for Moscow-Simferopol flight without obtaining the permission of the Ukrainian authorities o do so as well, RBC daily reports. Rosaviation’s spokesperson says the airline actually contracted for operating flights which it has no legal

The French retail hypermarket chain Auchan is planning to open four Auchan stores in Russia and one Raduga discount store, the Management Control Director of Auchan Russia Ludovic Holinier told the reporters during the Adam Smith Institute Russian Retail Trade Forum. ‘This is the minimum figure we are heading for, as we used to intend to set up at least six hypermarkets in Russia,’ Retail.ru quotes the executive as saying. The Director explained that fewer stores would be opened as it is hard to find suitable land allotments: the economic recession of 2008-2009 caused most construction sites

The net profit of OAO Novolipetsk Iron& Steel Works (NLMK) decreased by 71% in the fourth quarter of 2010 compared with the third quarter, dropping from $516m down to $149m, the company’s report (drawn up in accordance with the US GAAP) states. However, the revenues for the entire year rose by 36% and reached $8.35bn due to the sales going up to their pre-recession level and increased sales of high value-added produce; in addition, the growing production output had a role to play as well. The company’s net profit thus rose to $1.25bn.

Ural Chamber of Commerce & Industry came up with the first report on the outcomes of the emergencies caused in the Urals’ business life by the catastrophe in Japan. According to the Chamber’s Legal Issues Director Georgy Topolyan, a Yekaterinburg-based company that used to deliver machinery from Japan placed its claim with the chamber in mid-March. The chamber’s analysts now expect the number of claims from the local entrepreneurs affected by the Japanese disaster to go up. ‘The Urals’ businesses have been cooperating with their Japanese counterparts quite a bit, so the turnover of goods

OAO RosSpetsSplav reports its net profit decreased by 68.44% in the fourth quarter of 2010. The company explains this has to do with increased managerial expenses and decreased sales profits.

Orenburg Airlines won’t be able to operate chartered flights from Moscow to Larnaka and from Larnaka to Ufa. Rosaviation motivated its refusal by the fact that no agreements had been reached with the already appointed carriers. ‘We applied for the agreements with the appointed carriers, but our application was rejected,’ the Association of Russian Tour Operators’ website quotes Orenburg Airlines Commercial Director Sergey Lazarev as saying. Now under the Transportation Ministry’s Order No. 2, to start operating chartered flights an airline needs not only the aviation agency’s approval but

OAO Pnevmostroymashina finished the year 2010 off with 103.81 million RUR worth of losses, the company reports. As it happens, the year 2009 was rounded up with 355.71 million RUR worth of losses. In January 2010, the company was actually ordered to undergo bankruptcy proceedings for one and a half years.

Russia’s Federal Financial Markets Service’s division in Ural Federal District carried out a field inspection of OAO Zapsibcombank. Upon the completion of the inspection, which revealed a number of violations, the bank was ordered to take measures to prevent any violations of this kind in the future.

Russia’s Federal Financial Markets Service’s division in Ural Federal District carried out a field inspection of OAO UralTransBank. Upon the completion of the inspection, which revealed a number of violations, the bank was ordered to take measures to prevent any violations of this kind in the future.

The 14th Russian Wings awarding ceremony took place in Moscow recently. This year, thirty-seven air carriers competed for the title of the Airline of The Year. The winners were selected in the course of a secret ballot by a board of over a hundred independent experts such as the authorities representatives, members of NGOs, aviation veterans, and journalists. Ural Airlines was declared the winner in the Airline of The Year – Domestic Passenger Carrier in Group II (passenger turnover between 1 and 3 billion passenger-kilometers) category for the year 2010.