Starting September 1, 2008, Ural Airlines is going to operate a new morning flight bound for Moscow. This will be the carrier’s seventh daily flight operated from Yekaterinburg to Moscow. The departure time is 7.25 AM; the arrival time is 7.40 AM; the plane takes off from Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg and lands at Domodedovo airport of Moscow. ‘Our morning flights fully meet the local business community’s needs: passengers can now plan their day within the accuracy of a minute. The timetable gives them a chance to choose whether they would like to come to the negotiations earlier or spend

According to the Central Bank of Russia, the volume of loans given by UralFinPromBank to sole traders for 91 to 180 days went down by 58.90% (from 27.5 million RUR to 11.3 million RUR) in January-July 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in Pervouralsk Joint Stock Commercial Bank valid for 181 days to 1 year went down by 98.48% (from 32.9 million RUR to 500,000 RUR) in January-July 2008.

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service laid a claim against Bank Uralsib for the company’s alleged violation of the federal advertising law, the spokesperson for the Service reports. The bank’s advertisements devoted to their car loans, mortgages, and a grace-period credit card were reported to lack some essential information on the products. The Service believes Bank Uralsib’s ads thus violate Article 5 (part seven) of the federal bill on advertising. The case is to be considered by Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service’s Committee on

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by Bank Uralfinance to private individuals for up to 30 days dropped by 100% (from 1.15 million RUR to zero) in January-July 2008.

Moscow, љ13 August 2008 – UC RUSAL, the world’s largest aluminium and alumina producer, announces today that it has filed a lawsuit with the arbitration court against LUKOIL, the primary supplier of oil coke to UC RUSAL’s facilities, for disruptions in its supply of raw materials. Since April 2008, LUKOIL has reduced the supply of oil coke to UC RUSAL’s largest aluminium smelters by almost two times and as a result has not been fulfilling its long-term contractual obligations. According to the contract signed between the two companies in 2006, LUKOIL is obliged to supply oil coke to UC RUSAL

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin was Ural Federal District’s most frequently referred to Governor, as far as the Russian media were concerned, in July 2008: the Governor was alluded to in 476 various printed and electronic resources, Interfax’s complex news analysis system indicates. Governor of Tyumen Region Vladimir Yakushev is the second most popular person, with 381 various articles where his name was mentioned in July 2008, followed by Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel (whose name was mentioned in 350 articles and news), Governor of Khanty-Mansiyskiy Autonomous Region

‘It is the current Ossetian-Georgian conflict that was behind the stock market’s fall last Friday. This was simply bound to happen, since Russia got involved in this war and given the fact that information was very limited for a long period of time, while all the news from the West were positively anti-Russian,’ Eurogreen Investment and Finance Company’s General Director Evgeniy Kostarev said to UrBC. The RTS index dropped by 2.92% on Friday and, as the negative trends continued into the weekend, the index fell by another 4.13% on Monday, August 11, 2008. ‘Things have got more or less back to

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UniCreditBank to nonresident legal entities for 181 days to 1 year went down by 52.66% (from 1,684,827,000 RUR to 797,548,000 RUR) in January-July 2008.

955 workers underwent some training at UC RUSAL’s Bogoslovskiy smelter in the first half of 2008. 158 people were able to upgrade their job evaluation categories, while 348 people attended further education courses. Besides, 104 people won in the local tour of UC RUSAL’s professional contest and 200 production training instructors took part in the professional development seminars, UC RUSAL’s press officer in the Urals Roman Lukichev reports. ‘The enterprise can now boast a highly efficient personnel professional training and development system. Bogoslovskiy smelter actually has a license

‘The cost of vacations and the fuel fees have gone up by 30% on average since the beginning of the season; moreover, trips are going to become even more expensive due to the dollar exchange rate coming up,’ Elita Travel’s manager Oxana Volkova said to UrBC. ‘Turkey is still the most popular destination with Sverdlovsk Region’s dwellers; trips to Croatia and Montenegro enjoy very stable demand as well: the planes bound for these countries are always full,’ Oxana Volkova added.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by TagilBank to private individuals for 181 days to 1 year dropped by 14.18% (from 16.3 million RUR to 13.988 million RUR) in January-July 2008.

‘We first offered the packages to our business customers less than six months ago. Since then, over 70% of legal entities that use our bank have switched to this or that package. The percentage actually looks less impressive in some cities, while in some more economically advanced places like Nizhniy Tagil, Kamensk-Uralskiy, and Pervouralsk the figures are even greater,’ says head of URSA Bank’s Sverdlovsk subsidiary Alexei Surganov. The bank came up with four business packages: Acquaintance, Development, Leader, and Partner. ‘All the packages cover such basic services as the opening and

Ural Treasures Bank reports the company’s new name is Rus-Bank-Ural from now on. The announcement to this extent was made via the Bank of Russia’s official website under the rubric called Information on Crediting Organizations on August 5, 2008. Rus-Bank acquired 98.42% of Ural Treasures Bank’s shares at the end of 2007, thus making the latter a part of a large banking group. On May 19, 2008, Ural Treasures Bank’s EGM resulted in the decision to change the company’s name to Rus-Bank-Ural, whereupon the preparation for a re-branding campaign began. The bank started to gradually introduce

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in SberInvestBank valid for up to 30 days plummeted by 100% (from 200 million RUR to zero) in January-July 2008.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of private individuals’ deposits in Ural Innovational Commercial Bank valid for 91 to 180 days went down by 23.18% (from 112.466 million RUR to 86.396 million RUR) in January-July 2008.

On August 7, 2008, the 9th Court of Appeal supported the decision taken by Moscow Court of Arbitration, thus ruling in favor of the Federal Antimonopoly Service’s claim related to one unsuitable advertisement where Technosila trademark was featured, the spokesperson for the Service reports. The advertisement in question was designed for Spektr and exposed a number of goods offered at certain prices, while the off-screen announcer kept commenting on some ‘fools’ who’d bought the goods at a less advantageous price; the comment was accompanied by a number of men’s names: ‘Alex is a fool! He’s

Moscow, 12 August 2008. UC RUSAL, as a shareholder of Norilsk Nickel, is seriously concerned with the environmental situation relating to production activities at Norilsk Nickel’s facilities in Russia.љ According to the state environmental monitoring service and international public organisations, the environmental situation at Norilsk is on the brink of catastrophe. The following are just some of the alarming observations: For approximately 350 days-a-year the level of hazardous substances, recorded in the atmosphere surrounding Norilsk Nickel facilities exceeds the Maximum Permissible

TUV NORD CERT, a certificating authority, declared that the produce of Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) met all the necessary quality requirements. The audit procedure was carried out in compliance with the AD 2000-W0 technical standards (developed for checking if a product meets the 97/23/ЕС directive for high-pressure vessels) and EN 10025-1:2004 standards (Appendix ZA, developed for checking if a product meets the 97/23/ЕС directive for building materials). The auditor looked into the enterprise’s normative documents, engineering specification, and design documentation, as well as

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by VUZ Bank to for-profit self-regulatory organizations for 181 days to 1 year dropped by 46.19% (from 210.978 million RUR to 113.517 million RUR) in January-July 2008.