The construction of Russian Magnesium plant in Asbest, Sverdlovsk Region, has recently been halted, Chairman of the regional House of Representatives’ Economic Policies, Budget, Finance, & Taxes Committee and BOD Chairman of Tagilstroy Holding Alexei Chekanov told MK-Ural. ‘Tagilstroy Trust was involved in the construction as a contractor, but the project has been frozen for the time being for a number of reasons. I find the situation regrettable, as Russian Magnesium would have created new jobs in Asbest and would have ensured more tax payments. I believe the project has to be seriously

McDonald s is planning on adjusting the menus in its Ural outlets to the local culinary tastes, Vice Mayor of Yekaterinburg Viktor Konteev announced at a meeting with the local catering business representatives today. ‘I’ve spoken to their managers and explained to them that not taking the local tastes into account can actually be seen as a lack of respect. The fast food chain needs to have its menu choices modified in accordance with the local preferences, so McDonald s management now intends to introduce some novelties in the assortment of food items,’ Konteev said.

BOD Chairman of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Viktor Rashnikov and General Director of OAO KAMAZ Sergey Kogogin signed a memorandum on the construction of a maintenance center in Naberezhniye Chelny. Under the terms of this document, the new enterprise is to be launched in 2012. OAO MMK and OAO KAMAZ are going to own equal shares of the business that will require over 1 billion RUR worth of investments. The annual output of the hot-rolled products processing facility will probably come to 170,000 tons, MMK PR Department reports. ‘One of MMK strategic development targets is related

ZAO Intercos IV (a member of MMK Group) launched the first block of a drop forged components plant and a maintenance center in Saint Petersburg recently. The launching ceremony was attended by Head of the Russian Federation Government Vladimir Putin and Governor of Saint Petersburg Valentina Matvienko. The first block of MMK-Intercos required 4.018 billion RUR worth of investments; its output is expected to exceed 250,000 tons of metal products a year. The construction of second block will probably begin in 2011. ZAO Intercos IV produce is meant for the carmakers, white goods manufacturers,

Chelyabinsk Region has made an important step on the way to strengthening its economic ties with Ukraine, region’s Governor Mikhail Yurevitch declared after a reciprocal visit of Ural Federal District’s officials (headed by Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Nikolai Vinnichenko) to Zaporozhye Region. The Governor’s press service reports that negotiations held by Chelyabinsk and Zaporozhye Regions resulted in a signed protocol of intentions which ensures a series of projects in 2011-2012. The projects will all be related to the two parties’

OAO Koltsovo Airport, Yekaterinburg, informed the public of the reasons Flydubai’s Dubai-Yekaterinburg flight had been delayed. Flydubai’s Boeing737 operating the flight from Dubai to Yekaterinburg on November 20, 2010 landed in Koltsovo more than twenty-four hours later than had been planned. The airplane’s crew decided to land in its ‘Plan B’ airport in Samara because the landing strip in Koltsovo did not seem to provide the friction that would be safe enough to perform the landing. After the landing, the crew took some rest in accordance with the existing flight safety requirements and the

OAO UralTransBank and OAO Bank Yekaterinburg were placed on the list on Russia’s Top30 most unprofitable banks by Kommersant.Dengi magazine. OAO Surgutneftegazbank, which is also based in Ural Federal District, was also featured in this ranking with its 407.75 million RUR worth of losses.

Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service is about to start considering the case of Rodina housing block and its allegedly inappropriate advertisements, the Service’s press officer told UrBC. The advertisements in question were placed on billboards that read, ‘We sell Motherland and pay for children” and ‘We save money on kids.’ This was meant to say that Rodina (‘Motherland’) offered its customers a 100,000-ruble discount if there was a child in the family. The Service took action to prevent the supposed violation of the Federal Advertising Act after a complaint had

OAO Concern Kalina’s Board of Directors decided to hold an extraordinary general meeting so that the holders of the Russian cosmetics and cleaning chemicals manufacturer’s shares approve of a decrease in the concern’s authorized capital. The reduction will be achieved through the company buying out a portion of its own shares in order to cut down on their total amount. The EGM has been scheduled for January 11, 2011.

Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service accepted the petition of Surgutneftegaz, a non-state retirement fund, and allowed the company to buy a 75.64% shareholding in OAO UTair Airlines, the Service reports. UTair, a domestically operating air carrier, is currently one of the world’s top four helicopter giants. In 2004, the 75.64% shareholding was transferred to OOO Central Surgut Depository from Surgut municipal council and the government of Khanty-Mansiyskiy Autonomous Region. The local authorities actually sold their shares to an outside investor.

The solemn opening ceremony at Noyabrskaya combined cycle power plant had to be cancelled because of bad weather today. A strong wind forced the airplane with Russia’s Regional Development Minister Viktor Basargin (the event’s special guest) on board land in Surgut. The plane with other ceremony participants, including a number of reporters, which took off in Yekaterinburg, had to perform a landing in Tyumen and wait for over five hours for a permission to operate the flight. In the end, it was decided that the event should be canceled altogether and that all the quests invited should travel

Sverdlovsk Region Government has recently announced a tender for the delivery of iPad computers for the state’s needs. According to the official state purchases website, the government is ready to buy ‘portable digital electronic computers for automated data processing; weight required: under ten kg.’ The customer is looking for computers with the following parameters: support of UMTS/HSDPA, GSM/EDGE, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth data transfer and 64 Gb flash memory module. Applications can be made until November 26, 2010. The opening bid has been determined at 198,000 RUR for six iPad computers.

An on-site scheduled inspection of OAO Stroyplastpolymer aimed at checking the company’s compliance with the environmental legislation has by now been completed. OAO Stroyplastpolymer is a multi-field enterprise dealing in production of linoleum, bricks, sticky tapes, mastics, section products, and other polymeric materials. Six environmental legislation offenses were detected in the course of the inspection. However, one of the problems, namely, unauthorized construction waste storage, was eliminated prior to the end of the inspection. OAO Stroyplastpolymer had its construction waste removed

OAO Bank Uralsib is getting ready to launch an IPO or to sell its shares immediately to a strategic investor next year. The bank is willing to offer its investors as much as a blocking shareholding in the business. At the start of the week, the bank representatives brought the issue up at their meeting with some western investment banks in London, RBC daily reports. The newspaper quotes its source in the bank as saying that as many as eight applications for the shares have already been placed by the world’s leading investment banks, including one by JP Morgan. Two lead managers will be chosen

Head of the Russian Federation Government Vladimir Putin took part in the launch of ZAO ChTPZ Group’s new investment project Iron Ozone 32, a steel-smelting facility. The solemn launching ceremony included making a pilot batch of steel on the new department’s arc furnace. The implementation of the regional metallurgical industry’s largest project since the outbreak of the recession was made possible due to state support. In 2008, ChTPZ Group was placed on the list of Russia’s core enterprises; in 2009, Sberbank offered the company an eight-billion-ruble loan to complete the new department.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 18, 2010. X5 Retail Group announced they were going to contest the fines imposed on the company by Sverdlovsk Region division of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service. ‘The company, which comprises such supermarket chains as Pyaterochka, Perekrestok, and Carousel, is made up of independent legal entities that deal in retail trade as separate operators. On August 1, 2010, ZAO Perekrestok Trade House started running Pyaterochka chain instead of OOO Ural Retail. The FAS’s Sverdlovsk Region division was informed of the changes during their inspection of Pyaterochka.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 18, 2010. Ural Airlines welcomed its 1,500,000th passenger aboard its plane today. The company’s Planning Department experts have calculated earlier that the record-setting passenger should be checking in for the morning Yekaterinburg-Saint Petersburg flight on Thursday. The name of the lucky person was determined a few minutes before the boarding; this was Nadezhda Petrova, an engineer employed at Ural Instrument-Making Plant. ‘This came as a total surprise to me; I’ve never won anything before, this is why I am especially delighted to become this 1,500,000th

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 18, 2010. OAO Uralredmet based in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Sverdlovsk Region, got some new stockholders recently. A 15.78% shareholding was acquired by LAOAG Technical& Metallurgical Services Limited from Raghav Jugendra Singh, who, in his turn, bought the holding from Gobest International Limited Corporation at the end of October 2010, Uralredmet reports.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 17, 2010. Ural Airlines is about to introduce one more flight bound for China. In addition to the two weekly flights to Beijing and once-a-fortnight flight to Hainan which are already available, the air carrier is adding a third weekly flight to the Chinese capital (to be operated every Thursday) to its timetable. ‘Last year, we switched to a new departure/arrivals terminal in Beijing Airport upon our passengers’ request. When the flight was first introduced, we were only allowed to use Terminal 2 which is mainly meant for the Chinese domestically operating

Chelyabinsk Region keeps increasing its trade turnover with the U.S. in the aftermath of the recession and is interested in expanding the area of their cooperation, region’s Governor Mikhail Yurevitch said during his presentation on the region’s investment potential to America’s major businesses in Moscow. The presentation was organized on the premises of Chelyabinsk Region’s permanent representation under the Russian Federation Government, the Governor’s press service explained. According to Governor Yurevitch, Chelyabinsk Region is involved in trade with 120 different countries; for one,