Moscow, 10 June, 2008 - UC RUSAL, the world’s largest aluminium and alumina producer, is pleased to announce that it has successfully launched test production of the key component of a unique environmentally sound aluminium production technology - colloidal anode paste.љ The total investment in this project will amount to USD 25 million. The main goal of this project, developed by the UC RUSAL Engineering and Construction Division, is the development of the ideal Soederberg reduction cell, which minimises environmental impact on the consumption of raw materials and matches the production

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Federal Antimonopoly Service is going to re-hear the case of Yekaterinburgnefteprodukt and Lukoil-Permnefteprodukt (accused of a secret collusion) on June 24, 2008. Head of the Service’s commodity market monopoly control department Yulia Anisimova says the first session did not result in any final decision, as more data and documents were necessary. ‘Should the two companies be found guilty, they will have to stop colliding and face administrative liability in accordance with Article 14.32 of the Administrative Code,’ she notes.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UralFinPromBank to sole traders for 91 to 180 days dropped by 70.84% (from 27.5 million RUR to 8.02 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

UralTransBank informed its creditors that use the bank’s Yekaterinburg subsidiary at 32a Technicheskaya St that this subsidiary is to be considered only an additional office from now on. The news was announced via the bank’s official website.

ChTPZ Group won control over the key players on the geophysical services market of Khanty-Mansiyskiy Autonomous Region and Tomsk Region: Yuganskneftegazgeofizika and Tomskneftegazgeofizika. The acquisition of two geophysical companies was part of the Group’s strategy targeted at fully meeting the demands of the O&G industry. Last year, the implementation of this strategy resulted in setting up Rimera, a special company that deals in offering exploration, oilfield construction, and pipeline design and construction services to the oil and gas businesses. Rimera is to unite ChTPZ’s

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Uralfinance to private individuals for 181 days to 1 year went down by 73.93% (from 165.524 million RUR to 43.147 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg intends to sell its jet fuel at 30,600 RUR per ton at the end of June 2008, while Domodedovo airport of Moscow offers its fuel for 29,800 RUR per ton and airports of Chita, Anapa, and Sochi will sell their fuel for 29,576 RUR per ton, 29,424 RUR per ton, and 29,500 RUR per ton, respectively. The set consisting of jet fuel with VAT and the cost of the filling is going to be offered by Koltsovo airport for 37,194 RUR per ton at the end of June, while most other airports do not charge more than 37,000 RUR for this. Domodedovo sells this set for 36,143 RUR per

ORMETO-YUMZ Heavy Engineering Joint Stock Co (part of Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation) made and delivered MKPSH 45 slag-ladling machine for Kazzinc based in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan. The assembly jobs are expected to begin in August 2008, while the delivery contract was signed in May 2007. The machine is to be employed at the new lead and copper plants that Kazzinc and Engineering Dobersek GmbH are currently putting up in Ust-Kamenogorsk. The newly designed machine’s unique advantage lies in its outstanding productivity. The unit is capable of producing 45 tons of slag briquettes

Sverdlovsk Region’s division of Federal Antimonopoly Service has recently published a report on inspecting the printed ads and billboards of over fifty regional banks and bank’s subsidiaries. The Service reports violations of advertising legislation were detected in eight banks, six of which have already been found guilty. Two cases, involving VUZ Bank and UralTransBank, are still being considered in court. In addition, the inspections resulted in eleven administrative lawsuits, including two claims laid against Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank and cases involving Bank24.ru, SberInvestBank, and

‘Forbes is apparently trying to take revenge upon Chelyabinsk for our preventing the global chain stores from entering our market,’ Mayor of Chelyabinsk Mikhail Yurevitch said to UrBC. The Forbes magazine came up with a rating of Russian cities best suited for business development. Over eighty cities were featured in the rating that was topped by Krasnodar, followed by Kaliningrad and Kazan. Chelyabinsk did not make it to the top twenty and was only given the 36th position. ‘We’ve got all the conditions necessary for business development. The fact that we are reluctant to let transnational

URSA Bank decreased the interest rate on its mortgage loans by 2%. Now, if you make a 10% down payment and borrow the rest of the sum for three to thirty years, the average interest rate comes to 15% a year. You can apply for anything between 100,000 RUR and 15 million RUR. ‘Decreasing the rate was possible due to our funds growing less expensive. One reason for this was the recent $36m loan we obtained from BSTDB in order to develop our mortgage lending programs in the regions where the bank operates,’ says URSA Bank’s Deputy GD Petr Morsin. According to RBC.Rating’s data, URSA Bank was one

UrBC, Magnitogorsk (Chelyabinsk area), 09.06.2008. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) keeps building up on the volume of metal goods supplied onto the home market. The country’s dynamically growing rolled metal goods market offers the enterprise a good chance to do so. MMK’s top executives see the home market as their strategically important priority one, so the company’s home market sales rose by 47% in 2005-2007, while the general production growth only came to 20% over the same period of time. Last year, MMK’s Russian customers received 7.3 million tons of goods, which exceeds the

VISA International's Board of Directors decided to promote SKB-Bank to its Principal Member, which means the bank can now expand the range of bank card products and services it offers. ‘SKB-Bank’s approved Principal Member status means that the bank is a truly reliable and large-scale business,’ says SKB-Bank’s Deputy Chairman Oleg Demin. SKB-Bank first joined the VISA system in December 2004 and has so far issued over 470,000 bank cards, most of which are VISA ones. The Principal Member status allows the bank to handle direct operations with the international system and use VISA’s

United Company RUSAL reports Vitaliy Samsonov has been appointed the company’s Control Director. He is going to be responsible for the development of an effective inner control system and risk management. The company’s former Control Director Alina Gutkina has been appointed RUSAL’s Internal Audit Director and is going to report to the Board of Directors in terms of independent assessment of the company’s internal control system. These new appointments are in full compliance with the international standards and have been brought about by the need to separate RUSAL’s internal control

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of loans given by UniCreditBank to state-run for-profit organizations for 181 days to 1 year went down by 47.37% (from 189.996 million RUR to 100 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

East Capital Bering Russian Fund (one of the Swedish East Capital’s funds) has recently acquired a 17.644% shareholding of Izhevsk-based Ural Trust Bank. This information was published in compliance with the demand that any issuer and/or a joint stock company mush promptly reveal any data that might influence its stock price. On June 2, 2008, East Capital Explorer Financial Institution Fund AB raised its share in Bank Severnaya Kazna’s authorized capital from zero to 10.00486%. The bank’s BOD Chairman Vladimir Frolov says the sum of the transaction came to 1 billion RUR.

Central Bank of Russia reports volume of for-profit self-regulatory organizations’ deposits in Pervouralsk Joint Stock Commercial Bank valid for 1 to 3 years went down by 76% (from 10 million RUR to 2.4 million RUR) in January-May 2008.

Uralelectromed’s stockholders decided to pass a dividend for 2007 in the course of an AGM held in Verkhnyaya Pyshma. The decision was caused by the need to stay competitive on the market and thus invest in production upgrading and environmental protection.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by VUZ Bank to private individuals for 31 to 90 days went down by 99.32% (from 5 million RUR to 34,000 RUR) in January-May 2008.

First Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government and Sverdlovsk Region’s Minister for Industry and Science Anatoly Gredin visited the premises of Uralmashzavod in order to have a look at the plant, meet the enterprise’s General Director Nazim Efendiev, and look into the plant’s developmental potential, the spokesperson for Uralmashzavod reports. The minister visited the welding and the mechanical assembly production departments and looked at the assembling site of a foundry crane manufactured for Severstal. He was also shown the plant’s major achievements: the improved engineering base and a