UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 5, 2019. Yekaterinburg’s District Akademicheskiy’s developer RSG-Akademicheskoye intends to invest around RUB 40 billion in the building projects and infrastructure development in the area within the next three to five years, the company’s Director-General Viktor Krivosheyin said during his press tour. ‘The district will be expanding across the River Patrushikha, We are currently putting up some 700,000 m2 worth of new housing and will get Quarters 11, 12, and 16 (another 700,000 m2) commissioned this year as well. We’ll invest around RUB 40bn in the project in the

UrBC, Moscow, April 5, 2019. The Russian banking sector’s aggregate capital dropped by 2.3% in January 2019 against earlier months, the Central Bank of Russia’s Review of the Banking Sector of the Russian Federation states. The overall amount reached RUB 10.3 trillion on January 1, 2019 (up 9.28% on a year earlier). The bank’s accumulated assets amounted to RUB 94.08 trillion. According to the CBR, the banking sector’s profits came to RUB 445 billion in January and February 2019 compared with RUB 178 billion one year previously. 350 banks (73% of all the banks operating on the Russian market)

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 4, 2019. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) is going to coordinate its Service Guru Conference on April 5. The idea is to introduce an event that will serve a springboard for creating a service experts’ community in Yekaterinburg, the bank says. The conference will gather together customer service experts from the banking sector as well as many other types of businesses ranging from the telecom market to private clinics. ‘The idea of a customer service experts’ community came up about two years ago, when the bank adopted a Happy Customer

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 4, 2019. Yekaterinburg Council is coordinating a contest for the architectural concept of a new office/culture center in the city’s District Akademicheskiy, the town council’s website states. It is announced that the contest follows from RSG-Akademicheskoye’s recent request for a unique, multifunctional public space within Akademicheskiy. The Center will get put up within Wilhelm de Gennin St.-Timofeyev-Resovsky St.- Akademik Sakharov St. The place will include the district court building, the military commissariat, the district’s public prosecution authorities’

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, April 4, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) recently launched an updated version of its Oracle e-Business Suite v.12 enterprise information system, MMK’s Information & PR Department reports. The previous version of Oracle e-Business Suite got introduced at MMK in 2004. Oracle then announced the launch of the software at MMK was the best enterprise software project in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. MMK and Oracle signed an agreement in February 2018 to have the plant’s then active version of the software migrate to v.12 and to introduce the new

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 4, 2019. Ural Airlines are introducing more Yekaterinburg-Mineralnye Vody flights, which means you can now get to the Caucasus resorts three times a week: on Mondays, Fridays, and (throughout April) Saturdays. According to the air carrier’s press service, the extra Yekaterinburg-Mineralnye Vody flight will get operated every Saturday between April 6 and 20, 2019. Departure (Yekaterinburg): 3PM, Arrival (Mineralnye Vody): 3:55 PM, The flight is 2 hours and 55 minutes long. Ural Airlines already operate Yekaterinburg-Mineralnye Vody-Yekaterinburg flights on Mondays

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 4, 2019. EVRAZ Holding, the Social Investment Foundation, and the town councils of Nizhniy Tagil, Kachkanar, and Mezhdurechensk are working on the Children’s Foresight Project together, the holding’s press service reports. There are several stages to the project. So far, foresight sessions got coordinated for teachers and students of participating schools in Nizhniy Tagil and Kachkanar in early March. The Foundation’s experts gave talks on how to develop and implement urban improvement projects. Thanks to these projects, Nizhniy Tagil might soon get art-themed

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, April 3, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) intends to start reconstructing its Blast Furnace 2 in 2020, which is part of the plant’s overhaul program. The blast furnace is expected to undergo major upgrades, which will reduce its environmental impact dramatically, the company’s press service reports. The legendary Komsomolka (Blast Furnace 2) was launched in the summer of 1932, a few months after the plant itself opened. The furnace now makes some 3,800,000 kg of cast iron a day. The upgrades will involve dismantling and replacing all the components of the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 3, 2019. Ural Airlines are going to operate more flights from Moscow to Blagoveshchensk and back (via Yekaterinburg) in the summer; the flights will get operated starting April 2, 2019. According to the air carrier, flight U6 29 Moscow-Yekaterinburg-Blagoveshchensk will be available every Monday and Friday. Flight U6 30 Blagoveshchensk-Yekaterinburg-Moscow will be available on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Prices start from RUB 13,300 (one way) and RUB 26,600 (there and back). In addition to flights U6 29 and U6 30, Ural Airlines will also keep operating daily flights U6

UrBC, Moscow, April 3, 2019. A new department to control compliance with the environmental legislation was set up within the Central Administration For Surveillance Over Compliance With Federal Law by the order of Russia’s Prosecutor-General, the authority’s press service reports. There are two subdivisions within the new department: one of them will be in charge of controlling compliance with the environmental protection legislation and laws to protect the Arctic; the other one will be responsible for controlling compliance with the laws on protection and use of mineral resources. The

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 3, 2019. ChelPipe Group’s Pervouralsk New Plant (PNTZ) set up a special sanitary protection zone around the site. The size of the zone (i.e. how far the plant’s environmental impact can be felt) got determined by the Federal Supervision Agency for Customer Protection and Human Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor). The zone position data have been entered into the Unified State Register of Immovable Property, the Group’s press service reports. The company spent RUB 35 million on the project to determine the zone limits. Experts from the Rospotrebnadzor-certified lab took

UrBC, Moscow, April 3, 2019. Russia’s Finance Ministry proposed a series of amendments to Russia’s Fiscal Code, including the switch from the tourist tax to the hotel tax in 2023. The proposal is now available at regulation.gov.ru. Companies and private individuals dealing in accommodation/hotel services will all have to pay the tax. However, companies and private individuals dealing in children’s healthcare and recreation services are expected to be tax-exempt, as are sole traders operating on a tax patent scheme and private individuals on the Earned Income Tax scheme. The amount of tax will

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 2, 2019. EVRAZ Holding’s Raspadskaya Coal Company presented the students of Osinnikovsky Mining School (OGTK) a new electro-mechanical lab, the company’s press service reports. ‘The students’s work stations have everything necessary for theoretical and practical training: electrical control panels with automatic appliances, electric engines, and special-purpose tools. The lab also has a 3D simulator of the power substation inspecting and testing routines. The simulator gets used to learn the basics of trouble-shooting. At the end of the simulator test, the software

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 2, 2019. MMK Group’s Lysva Metallurgical Plant launched its Polymeric Coating Unit 5 and started making SteelArt rolled goods with decorative prints three years ago this month, MMK’s press service reports. The unit makes rolled metal goods with three-layer polymeric coatings that imitate the look and feel of natural materials like stone, wood, and brick very closely — yet these are considerably less expensive and easier to assemble than the actual thing. The construction and launch of Unit 5 went through with support from Russia’s Industry & Trade Ministry, as

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 2, 2019. Federal Grid Company United Energy Systems (FGC UES) completed renovating its 500-kilowatt Tyumen Power Substation: the substation now has a completely new set of power equipment (total capacity: 1252 МVА), upgraded switchgear appliances, and remote control systems, FGC UES Western Siberia’s PR & Media Group reports. ‘As a result, new electric power consumers can now get connected to the substation; plus, the entire facility, which is crucial to the transit of electric power in Tyumen-Ural line and is also a part of Tyumen Power Station 1 and Tyumen

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 2, 2019. EVRAZ Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Plant (EVRAZ NTMK) supplied more than 3,000 H-beams onto the construction site of Grozny Mall in the Northern Caucasus, EVRAZ Holding Ural’s Corporate Relations Center reports. The H-beams (6.5 to 12.5 meters long) got used to put up the principal framework of the building. The parallel beams are made from S345-5 steel with vanadium alloy, which makes the product more wear- and corrosion-resistant. The use of parallel beams in the construction process makes it possible to both cut down on costs and increase the framework’s

UrBC, Moscow, April 2, 2019. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to have old-age pensions paid out since January 1, 2019 adjusted to exceed the living wage; the decree is now available on the legal information portal. According to the Finance Ministry’s estimates, this will cost the budget some RUB 15 to 20 billion. The President first mentioned the need to reconsider the pension indexation principles and have the current pensions adjusted during his address to the Federal Assembly. Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev promised the extra payments would be made by July 1. As of

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 1, 2019. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) sold 1,800,000,000 kg of long products last year, 98% of which got directed to customers on the home markets (including the CIS member states), the company’s press service reports. MMK’s Sales Department’s Senior Officer Alexander Margishvili gave a talk on the company’s performance in 2018 during the conference on rolled section steel and profiled iron in Moscow. According to Margishvili, even though the Russian rolled section steel-making facilities are currently being underused (their current workload in Russia

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, April 1, 2019. Sverdlovsk Region’s banks issued 3,800 automobile loans in January-February 2019, which exceeded the figures for one year earlier by 7%, the National Credit History Bureau reports. In Russia on the whole, the number of newly issued car loans came to 108,100 (up 8.2% on January-February 2018). ‘Even though the state-run subsidy programs are no longer in place, more cars were bought on credit in early 2019 than in early 2018. Additionally, the increase in sales got boosted by improved lending terms (thanks to the car makers’ support, among other things). This

UrBC, Moscow, April 1, 2019. Rostourism took around sixty travel agents off the united federal register of tour operators in March, the agency’s reports indicate. Most of the tour operators in question failed to produce evidence of having the funds to back up their obligations during the new licensing period; three companies stopped dealing in international tourism altogether; and three more companies informed Rostourism they were going into liquidation as travel agents. As of March 29, 2019, there were some 4,400 tour operators on the register all in all.