European-Asian Company reports it bought a 37% stake in ErM recently. Prior to this acquisition, YekaterinburgGaz ceased being ErM’s stockholder. OAO ErM runs the Hermitage Hotel and the Magister Hotel in Yekaterinburg.

Yekaterinburg-based Koltsovo Airport, Perm Airlines, and Ust-Katavskiy S.M. Kirov carriage-building plant located in Chelyabinsk Region have been taken off the list of the country’s strategically important enterprises after the Russian Federation President Dmitriy Medvedev’s order was signed on Friday and then published. The President has announced earlier that the list of Russia’s strategically important enterprises was reduced from 208 down to 41, while the list of federal unitary enterprises was reduced from 230 down to 159.

More passengers kept coming through Yekaterinburg’s Koltsovo International Airport from various destinations in May 2010 than in May 2009. For one, the airport’s international flights passenger turnover went up by 68.3% against May 2009, the passenger turnover on flights within the CIS rose by 47.5% last month compared with May 2009, while the passenger turnover on domestic flights increased by 14.3%. The airport’s press officer reports the number of passengers flying through Koltsovo increased in May mostly thanks to customers flying to and from Moscow (the number of those jumped by 26.7%

The Russian Federation Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) received the documents of payment proving that OAO TNK-BP Holding has paid the 1.11-billion-ruble fine for violating the antimonopoly legislation. Now the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation’s Presidium ruled on May 25, 2010 that the FAS’s decision to impose 1.1 billion RUR worth of fines on TNK-Bp Holding was both legitimate and well-grounded.

Khanty-Mansiyskiy Non-State Retirement Fund reduced its pension reserves by 1.1%, or down to 22.68 billion RUR in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the beginning of the year 2010, the Russian Federation Federal Financial Market Service reports. The fund’s own assets shrank by 2.1%; the number of the fund’s participants rose by 4.3%, while the number of individuals participating in the non-state retirement savings program increased by 1%. At the same time, the pension payments were reduced by 4.3 times.

OAO Serov Ferrous Alloys Plant agreed not to pay any share dividend for the year 2009. The decision to this extent was made by the plant’s shareholders during the general meeting held in Serov, Sverdlovsk Region. During the AGM, the stockholders also agreed on the changes to the company’s Charter: the changes ensured that the number of BOD members is to come to five people.

The initiative on hosting tourism development proposed by Kamensk-Uralskiy, Sverdlovsk Region, has been approved by the federal authorities. The Russian Ministries for Culture, Sports, and Tourism are willing to support the town’s projects by directing 371 million RUR to the programs, the spokesperson for Kamensk-Uralskiy town council reports. In addition, Sverdlovsk Region’s authorities and private investors are invited to invest 185 million RUR each. The development program is to be implemented within three years, creating about 1,500 new jobs, the spokesperson explains. The Old Kamensk

The losses of AvtoVAZ (calculated in accordance with the IAS) amounted to 49.2 billion RUR last year. This figure was twice the number of what the Russian car manufacturer lost in the year 2008, namely, 24.7 billion RUR. The company’s revenues dropped by 45% in 2009 and came to 92.04 billion RUR, while the operating losses rose to 45.5 billion RUR, RBC daily says. AvtoVAZ explains these enormous losses have to do with dropping car sales, among other factors. In fact, the sales decreased by 44%, down to 349,500 cars. Another reason was the need to set up the fund depreciation reserves (14.2

On June 21, 2010, Ural Airlines is to start operating its new Moscow-Yekaterinburg flight. The company’s new offer is targeted at the passengers who would like to arrive in Yekaterinburg at the beginning of the working week, as the carrier’s plane leaves Moscow early on Monday. This U6 269 flight is offered every Monday; the plane departs from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport at 8:05 AM and lands in Yekaterinburg at 12:10 PM. The flights will be operated using Airbus A-320 planes; tickets can be bought via the company’s website www.uralairlines.ru as well as in Yekaterinburg booking offices. For

Mezhprombank’s deposit and debt ratings were demoted from B3 to B1 by Moody's recently; the bank’s financial stability rating has remained at its earlier level of E+. The ratings were also placed on the CreditWatch list, as there is still a possibility of their further demotion given the bank’s weak liquidity status. At the same time, Fitch demoted the long-term national and foreign currency Issuer Default Rating of Mezhprombank by three positions, that is, from B to CCC, and still keeps them on its Rating Watch with Negative rating outlook (RWN).

Ural Airlines has recently introduced a new Yekaterinburg-Vienna flight. Starting July 16, 2010, the flight will be operated every Friday afternoon (which is rather convenient). According to the carrier’s press officer, this Yekaterinburg-Vienna flight U6 717 leaves Yekaterinburg’s Koltsovo Airport at 3:35 PM and arrives in Vienna at 4:00 PM. The Vienna-Yekaterinburg flight U6 718 departure time is 6:00 PM and arrival time is 2:10 AM (the following day). Under Ural Airlines’ interline agreement with Austrian Airlines, passengers can also book a ticket for a connecting flight through Vienna;

‘I haven’t made up my mind yet as to whether I am inclined to become a member of the Soviet of the Federation,’ Mayor of Yekaterinburg Arkadiy Chernetskiy said during his visit to Academic, Yekaterinburg’s newest district currently under construction. Now Arkadiy Chernetskiy was nominated by Sverdlovsk Region’s division of United Russia. In answering the reporters’ questions about what it was about the offer that he found perplexing, the Mayor said a lot of issues involved in the offer actually looked perplexing to him.

‘The accusations related to an explosion at Evraz Group’s Vysokogorskiy Ore Mining & Processing Enterprise’s Yestyuninskaya mine will have to be faced by the administrator of the underground on-site storage. I am not going to mention his name for the sake of investigative purposes. The man was fired after the criminal proceedings began and is now in his own custody, with a travel restriction imposed,’ Chief Assistant to the Head of Sverdlovsk Region Investigative Committee under the General Prosecutor’s Office’s Investigative Department Alexander Shulga announced at a press conference

‘Following the tragic accident at Raspadskaya mine in Kemerov Region, Sverdlovsk Region’s public prosecution authorities, the State Labor Inspectorate’s local division, and the regional division of Rostechnadzor (the state environmental, technological, and nuclear safety watchdog) checked the local mining enterprises for compliance with the safety regulations. The inspections resulted in finding numerous instances of legal offenses,’ Prosecutor of Sverdlovsk Region’s public prosecution authorities department of surveillance over law-compliance in the fields of the environment, transportation,

The public prosecution authorities of Tyumen’s Central District placed all the papers necessary to consider the criminal lawsuit involving a 46-year-old businesswoman with the court. The defendant is charged with fraud, the authorities report. The inquest team believes that between October 2005 and November 2007, the suspect persuaded two of her employees and five acquaintances to take out bank loans and to hand the money over to her so that she could develop her passenger motor transportation business. She deluded her (female) victims into believing that she would pay off the loans herself.

Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Association placed a complaint with Deputy Head of Russian Federation Government Igor Sechin regarding Severstal raising its product prices, RBC daily reports. Uralvagonzavod explains it is unhappy with the sky-high prices set by the metallurgical enterprise. At the beginning of the month, Uralvagonzavod and Severstal signed an agreement valid for thirty days, which meant the former agreed to a nearly 30% price increase. In return, Severstal promised to raise their delivery volumes by 50%. Now Uralvagonzavod claims it only agreed to the new price

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service is to consider the case involving OOO Lotos II; the defendant is charged with violating Article 22 of the Federal Advertising Act through distribution of unlawful Heineken beer ads, the Service’s press officer Marina Yusupova reports. ‘Yekaterinburg parents committee placed its claim against OOO Lotos II with Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service. The committee is concerned about the illegitimate placement of Heineken beer advertisements above the entrance to Shtab bar, that is, within fifty meters of

Once the heating season of fall/winter 2009/2010 has been successfully lived through, Reftinskaya state district power plant (the Sverdlovsk Region-based asset of Enel OGK-5) launched a full-scale overhaul campaign in order to get ready for the next winter. The power plant provides electric power to over 40% of Sverdlovsk Region’s consumers and partially caters for some neighboring regions as well. Every year, all of the station’s power-generating units undergo maintenance procedures, medium maintenance procedures, or total overhauls, depending on their technical condition.

On June 17, 2010, Plenipotentiary Representative of Russian Federation President in Ural Federal District Nikolai Vinnichenko is going to visit Yekaterinburg’s newest Academic district. He will be accompanied by Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Misharin and Mayor of Yekaterinburg Arkadiy Chernetskiy. During the visit, the officials will be presented with a report on the way the district’s quarter 5 is being built. They will also pay a visit to a kindergarten, a school under construction, quarter 2 (currently under construction as well), and the law-enforcement agencies’ headquarters.

Starting July 5, 2010, Ural Airlines is going to operate new flights from Novosibirsk, Krasnodar, and Vladivostok. The flights will be operated using the European concern’s Airbus А320 aircraft according to the following timetable: Novosibirsk-Krasnodar flight will be available every Tuesday; Krasnodar-Novosibirsk flight will be offered every Monday; Novosibirsk-Vladivostok flight will be operated on Tuesdays; Vladivostok-Novosibirsk flight will be operated every Tuesday; Krasnodar-Vladivostok flight will be available on Mondays; Vladivostok-Krasnodar flight will be offered on Tuesdays.