Following the order of Head of Russian Government Vladimir Putin, a governmental committee on the metallurgical industry development has been set up. The committee is chaired by Vice Premier Igor Sechin. One of the committee members, MMK Management Company’s President and BOD Chairman of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) Viktor Rashnikov said the new body was essential to solving the industry’s problems. He feels this industry has been affected by the crisis the most, so it’s important for the government and the major market players to come up with a coordinated crisis-defying

‘There is not a single bank in Sverdlovsk Region that has yet had to confiscate its borrowers’ property. However, banks do use their customers’ estate to back up their loans,’ Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel announced in the course of a press conference in Yekaterinburg. For one, Ukraina Hotel next to Yekaterinburg-Koltsovo highway that is currently under construction has already been mortgaged to Sberbank of Russia, since Uralzarubezhservis (the builder) doesn’t have the necessary resources. ‘As for the banking sector on the whole, banks tend to merge and consolidate, while

The 17th European Banking Financial Forum dedicated to finding solutions to the ongoing financial crisis took place in Prague, the Czech Republic, on March 24-26, 2009. The Forum comprised the traditional ‘Russian sessions’ devoted to West-East and East-West investments. On the first day of the forum, URSA Bank’s Deputy GD Vladimir Mekhryakov made a report on MDM-Bank and URSA Bank’s merger as a way to creating Russia’s leading all-purpose bank. He spoke about the strategic reasons for the merger and walked the audience through the structure of the transaction. ‘The current circumstances are

URSA Bank’s Board of Directors decided to hold the annual general meeting at 3 PM on May 5, 2009. The meeting is to take place at 54 Inskaya St. in Novosibirsk. There are going to be ten points on the meeting’s agenda, including the approval of the annual report and of the elected auditor as well as electing the Board of Directors and issues related to lst year’s profit distribution. The bank’s BOD suggested that the stockholders direct 181,333 RUR to pay the share dividends and $22.733 million to pay the preferred stock dividends.

The net profit of Klyuchevsk Ferrous Alloys Works dropped by 116.857 million RUR, or 388.18% (from 30.104 million RUR to -86.753 million RUR). The company explains this has to do with their lowered performance brought about by the global economic instability and the troubles caused by the soaring U.S. dollar exchange rate.

Russkiye Motory Sila Holding Company, Metallsnab, Uralplastic, and Uralenergomontazh have been placed on the list of companies owing more than 1 million RUR to the state (i.e. the Russian Federation budget), Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Tax Service reports. All in all, the list comprised 341 Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises on March 15, 2009.

Vtoroye Sverdlovskoye Aviapredpriyatiye, Uralvtorchermet, Yekaterinburgskiye Lesniye Machiny, and Sverdlvtormet have been placed on the list of companies owing more than 1 million RUR to the state (i.e. the Russian Federation budget), Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Tax Service reports. All in all, the list comprised 341 Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises on March 15, 2009.

Valery Rodin has recently been elected the General Director of the Urals’ Interregional Distributional Network Company. The decision to this extent was made by the company’s Board of Directors. At the same time, former GD Alexei Bobrov chose to resign ahead of schedule. Bobrov announced his upcoming leave as early as March 26, 2009 at a press conference in Yekaterinburg.

The officers of Sverdlovsk Region’s economic crimes division of Ministry of Internal Affairs carried out an investigation resulting in uncovering the criminal activity of Uralstroy-1, the local builder, the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Ministry of Internal Affairs reports. According to the existing line of inquiry, Uralstroy-1 signed agreements with both natural persons and legal entities regarding their investment in would-be apartments and offices. Later on, the builder allegedly converted the customers’ property rights over the future estate to some third party by

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) looked in the success of the enterprise’s compliance with the collective agreement in 2008. One thing MMK invests in is improving on the city’s cultural infrastructure by maintaining two culture centers hosting over 1,500 various clubs’ members. 850 events were organized for the enterprise’s employees last year alone, with 25.78 million RUR worth of investments. What is more, MMK provides for a set of health-improvement and PE measures through organizing sports events and summer and winter championships. All in all, more than 12,500 people took part

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin’s vacation began on March 30, 2009. His First Deputy Governor Andrei Kosilov is going to be acting Governor for the time being, the spokesperson for the Governor reports.

Irbit Trailer Plant, Uralelectromash, and Zavod Iset have been placed on the list of companies owing more than 1 million RUR to the state (i.e. the Russian Federation budget), Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Tax Service reports. All in all, the list comprised 341 Sverdlovsk Region-based enterprises on March 15, 2009.

Ural Airlines started selling tickets for its U6-2941/2942 Dushanbe-Irkutsk-Dushanbe flights. Starting April 2, 2009, flights are to be operated every Thursday. The departure time for Irkutsk-Dushanbe flight is 3.15 PM, the arrival time is 4 PM. The departure time for Dushanbe-Irkutsk flight is 4.20 AM, the arrival time is 1.15 PM. All flights are operated on an Airbus A320 plane; these are five-hour flights. For more information, call the 24/7 Passenger Support Service 8 800 2000 262 (toll free within Russia).

Degtyarsk Machine-Building Plant’s management claims the company is under a raiding attack initiated by Malik Gaisin, a local entrepreneur. ‘Since the law-enforcement agencies do not seem to pay any attention to the notorious Malik F. Gaisin’s actions, one of Degtyarsk’s few operating businesses is under a threat of total destruction,’ the plant’s GD Valery Malygin was quoted as saying by the Anti-Corruption Committee. The plant’s top executives report eleven buildings located on the plant’s premises have been registered with Kolva Ltd (controlled by Malik Gaisin). However, neither money nor

Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government and the region’s Minister for Industry and Science Anatoly Gredin presented his report on the state of local aluminum smelters at an anti-crisis committee meeting. The Minister explained things were hard for Severouralsk bauxite mine (SUBR) and Bogoslovskiy and Ural smelters at the moment; their output had halved, while the produce didn’t appear to enjoy any demand. In the meantime, these enterprises employ over 10,000 local dwellers. The regional government officials have already drawn up an agreement providing for lower electricity and heat prices

‘Providing for commercial security is an important part of social security and a top priority issue at the moment. This is a problem both the country as a whole and every city in Russia is faced with. This is true of Yekaterinburg as well. I believe this issue needs to be discussed and to be given a lot of attention at the city’s Security Council meeting,’ says Europe-Asia Information and Consulting Center’s GD and President of Ural Center of Nongovernmental Security Institutions Association Oleg Borisov. The first professional report on Yekaterinburg’s security services market came out in

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin met the General Director of Asha Metallurgical Works Vladimir Evstratov. The two executives looked into the enterprise’s current problems and tried to think of how to actually implement the company’s long-term investment projects targeted at modernization. Evstratov said the first modernization stage was completed in 2006 when the new ladle furnace was launched; the second stage was carried out in 2007 when the new CC machine started operating at the plant. However, the outbreak of the global economic turmoil prevented the enterprise from going

Ural Transport Machine-Building Works, Euroset Yekaterinburg, Ural & Siberia Metallurgical Company, Yekaterinburg Pharmaceutical Factory, Pnevmostroymachina, and Ural Turbine Plant have been placed on the list of companies owing more than 1 million RUR to the state (i.e. the Russian Federation budget), Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Tax Service reports. All in all, the list comprised 341 enterprises on March 15, 2009.

The agreements signed with Bank Severnaya Kazna’s (now the asset of Alfa-Bank) top managers that provided the latter with greater salaries, a life time medical insurance and impressive redundancy payments have been declared void and cancelled. Following the order of the Russian Federation’s Deputy Prosecutor-General, the region’s public prosecution authorities carried out an investigation of the bank’s former managers allegedly illegal practices and found out that the offense did take place. It was detected that in October 2008, despite the ongoing economic crisis and the bank’s being unable

‘At the time of a crisis, the number of bank-related complaints has gone up by 50%. All in all, we have received fifty-four complaints about the banks’ activity since the outbreak of the trouble,’ Inna Abolonina, Sverdlovsk Region Consumer Rights Protection Society’s legal advisor said to UrBC. ‘Most complaints have to do with lending issues and bank deposits, with the latter dominating over the former. People complain of a whole range of banks, including Bank Russkiy Standart and Sberinvestbank,’ she added.