Miat Mongolian Airlines called two flights that were supposed to have departed from Koltsovo Airport of Yekaterinburg today. For one, flight OM 133 to Berlin (departure time 12:15 PM) and, respectively, the return flight OM 134 from Berlin (arrival time 11:10 PM) were both cancelled. What is more, the carrier called off flight OM 134 to Ulan Bator scheduled for 12:40 AM on March 17, 2011.

Prego Holdings Limited bought a 29.89% shareholding in Concern Kalina. It is reported that the Cyprus-based company only used to own a 1.08% stake in the Yekaterinburg company before.

ОAO Khanty-Mansiysky Bank’s Board of Directors suggested that the stockholders vote for passing last year’s dividends at the upcoming general meeting. The AGM will be held on April 15, 2011 in Khanty-Mansiysk. The other points on the agenda concern remuneration and expense compensations to the bank’s independent BOD members.

The net debt of the mobile phone chain Euroset rose by 2.9% and reached 8.83bn RUR last year, the company’s report (drawn up in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards) states. The overall debt went up by 0.8% and reached 10.5bn RUR. The company’s consolidated revenues amounted to 61.9bn RUR, which was 12.2% better than a year earlier. The net profit came to 5.57bn RUR.

The number of passengers Utair Airlines rendered its services to in January-February 2011 went down by 1.2% against January-February 2010; the figure declined to 600,200 people, the company’s report says. At the same time, the passenger turnover rose by 12.4% in the two months of 2011 against a year earlier.

Ural Airlines welcomes the vacation season by canceling fuel fees formerly charged on international flights starting March 27, 2011. All the tickets for the international summer flights are already available: you can book one for Yekaterinburg-Antalya flight (three times a week), Yekaterinburg-Barcelona flight (three times a week), Yekaterinburg-Varna flight (two times a week), Yekaterinburg-Burgas flight (three times a week), Yekaterinburg-Iraklion flight (three times a week), Yekaterinburg-Saloniki flight (three times a week), Yekaterinburg-Pula flight (two times a week),

The consortium of Russian Directors Institute and the rating agency Expert RA called off the corporate management rating of OAO MRSK Urala on March 14, 2011 due to the rating expiry. The company used to have a 6+ rating of ‘Well-established Corporate Management Practices’, Expert RA reports.

Following a number of customer complaints, an investigation was carried out of ZAO Raiffeisenbank, Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) press service reports. The agency’s experts from Yekaterinburg Central Department instituted administrative offense lawsuit against the bank, as it was detected in the course of the investigation that Raiffeisenbank signs customer contracts whose terms actually infringe upon the customers’ legally guaranteed rights. Based upon the findings, the head of the legal entity was ordered to stop violating consumers’

UrBC, Moscow, March 14, 2011. The tour operator Eurotours and their office in Moscow are now longer doing business together, the company’s official website says. ‘The three years’ work of the Moscow office has produced results that everyone can’t help noticing. Our team introduced the new group tours that enjoy great popularity with tourists. We intend to fulfill all our obligations related to the trips already booked in the usual mode,’ says Eurotours division General Manager Tatiana Davydova. ‘The entire Moscow office is moving on to bigger and better things. We are about to start our work

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2011. The bad debts made up 4.97% of Sberbank’s lending portfolio in January- February 2011, which was 0.07% less than before, the bank’s report (compiled in accordance with the Russian Accounting Standards) says. The loan reserves came to 655bn RUR on March 1, 2011.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2011. A cooperation agreement between Sverdlovsk Region Federation of Trade Unions and the Confederation of Trade Unions of Azerbaijan will be signed in Yekaterinburg on March 16, 2011. The signing is part of the International Labor Organization workshop dedicated to cooperation between the two trade unions in the field of migrant workers’ rights protection. The workshop is mainly aimed at enhancing the efficiency of the migrant workers’ protection against their foreign employers and at increasing the economic effect of labor migration. The representatives of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2011. Increasingly more members of Omega Group Holding are going bankrupt due to their inability to pay off loans to Sberbank of Russia. Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court declared OOO Omega Group Vostok and OOO Omega Group Tyumen insolvent. Vadim Permikin and Alexei Sergeyev of Razvitie Non-Commercial Partnership of Self-Regulatory Trustees in Bankruptcy were appointed the two companies’ trustees in bankruptcy. According to the court files, Omega Group Tyumen owes Sberbank 1.13bn RUR on guarantor’s contracts, whereas Omega Group Vostok (with OOO Omega Spirits

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 14, 2011. The earthquake in Japan has had an immediate impact on the global economy. Following the news of the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami the Japanese stock market went dramatically down, while the Nikkei 225 decreased by 6.25%. The calamity affected the foreign exchange market as well, since the news of the catastrophe urged the yen holders to sell out, which resulted in the yen weakening against the most important currencies. The analysts report, however, that the yen regained its positions and even grew stronger very soon. OOO Bank Koltso Urala’s

UrBC, Moscow, March 11, 2011. Lev Khasis, who ran X5 Retail Group for five years, is now leaving the business. The company’s Supervisory Board has already accepted the CEO’s resignation. The company reports Lev Khasis intends to work on some projects of his own; his deputy Andrei Gusev will be appointed the company’s new CEO. ‘I decided to devote myself to other business projects, but I am still a loyal customer and a stockholder,’ Molly.ru quotes Lev Khasis as saying.

UrBC, Moscow, March 11, 2011. Russia’s Federal Financial Markets Service refused to approve of the internal rules of ZAO Surgutneftegazbank, OAO Olimp, an investment company, and OAO Severo-Invest, another investment and finance company based in Nizhnevartovsk; the refusal is aimed at counteracting money-laundering of criminal proceeds as well as at counteracting the financing of terrorist activity.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2011. Yekaterinburg-based Koltsovo Airport rendered its services to 175,280 people in February 2011, which exceeded the figure for a year earlier by 13.3%. This figure comprises 115,230 people who flew domestically (an 18.1% increase compared with February 2010), 14,310 people whose destinations were located within the Commonwealth of Independent States (a 64.2% increase against a year earlier), and 45,720 international passengers, which was 5.7% less than in February 2010 because all the Egypt-bound flights were called off. As far as the international flights

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, March 11, 2011. Tyumen Central District court sustained the claim laid by the public prosecution authorities against OAO Uralsvyazinform and OAO Ural-TransTelecCom and ruled that the telecommunications providers in question must limit Internet access to a presumably terrorism-oriented online resource. The recent inspections revealed that the citizens of Tyumen Region had unlimited access to a website that justified the actions of the international terrorist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami and encouraged its readers to establish an Islamic state, the caliphate, in

UrBC, Moscow, March 11, 2011. Starting July 2011, Rosaviation intends to suggest that air carriers stop using Tu 154 airplanes unless these aircraft have all their design defects fixed, head of Rosaviation Alexander Neradko announced at the agency’s final meeting on Friday, RIA Novosti reports. ‘Rosaviation has by now imposed additional requirements on both the designers and manufactures of Tu 154 M to make sure the design is improved and a special compulsory application bulletin is issued,’ Neradko said. According to the official, no design improvements or upgrades have been developed for

OAO Alfa-Bank, the proprietor of OAO Bank Severnaya Kazna, announced the sale of the bank’s remaining assets. As Bank Severnaya Kazna no longer operates under the name, the company’s furniture, safety vaults, office equipment and tills are now offered for sale, 3,550 items altogether. The company is asking 2.92 million RUR for the property in question, while the posted balance sheet value comes to 17.85 million. All the items are now located in a warehouse in Yekaterinburg. It is suggested that the customers pick them up themselves, with the minimum purchase requirement of 50,000 RUR.

France’s trade mission UBIFRANCE officially opened in Yekaterinburg recently. This is the organization’s third Russian office after the ones in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. UBIFRANCE is a state-run organization in charge of industrial and commercial issues. The decision to set up an office in Yekaterinburg was taken in 2010. According to the French officials, this decision was actually influenced by considerations of the Urals’ economic potential. For one, Sverdlovsk Region and France’s trade turnover reached $780m last year, which was 73% better than a year earlier. France is now the