Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Viktor Koksharov chaired a cabinet meeting devoted to the state of the region’s water power engineering; in the course of the meeting, Deputy Minister for Industry, Power Engineering, and Science Yuri Shevelev presented his report on how efficiently the region had been complying with Sverdlovsk Region Government’s provision as of August 18, 2004 regarding the area’s top-priority mini hydroelectric power stations. The Minister said their research indicated that putting up small-scale power generating facilities (with the capacity ranging from 100 kilowatts

Ural Airlines made its Yekaterinburg-Surgut-Yekaterinburg performed on Fridays cheaper, with the price of a single ticket coming to only 4,100 RUR (excluding the fuel fee). This means the company’s customers can now spend a weekend at home in Surgut at a much more appealing price, the carrier’s press officer reports. Another good thing about these Friday flights is that they are very convenient for transit passengers who go on holiday and change planes in Yekaterinburg. The special price offer is going to be available throughout the whole summer; however, the supply is limited. Ural Airlines

‘If the new fuel prices that Koltsovo airport is about to introduce get the approval of Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region, and if this increase in prices is not seen as a violation of any sort by the industry’s watchdogs, we’ll just have to operate somewhat differently,’ Ural Airlines’ Deputy General Director Alexei Fomin says. ‘Given the airport’s monopoly in the field of fuel supplies, their increased prices will lead to more expensive tickets. It’s hard to say at the moment just how this is going to be happening, since the situation on the market is another factor. We’ll

The law-enforcement agencies of Ural Federal District have recently disclosed large-scale tax frauds. Construction and Mounting 77, for instance, was found to be practicing tax evasion, which has already resulted in 23.25 million RUR worth of damage to the state. The company’s top executives have been charged with large-scale tax evasion; they will have to undergo a criminal suit and might get up to six years in prison.

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin invested 30 million RUR in repairing a municipal clinic in Chelyabinsk. The spokesperson for the Governor reports this money is to be spent on refurbishing the consulting rooms, the patients’ wards, and the halls in the selective and contaminated surgery departments as well as in the ophthalmologic and sterilization departments. The Governor last visited the clinic in April 2007’ this visit resulted in a number of administrative papers that facilitated the allocation of the finances needed for the repairs. In fact, the clinic has already received some

Only 18% of quotas on the number of foreign workers from countries whose citizens don’t need a visa to come to Russia (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Byelorussia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldavia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and the Ukraine) have been used by Russian employers so far, says Alexander Safonov, Labor Relations and Civil Service Director of the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development. ‘1,100 people got their work permits, whereas the upper limit amounts to 6 million for 2007. Most likely, 2.5 million permits will have been provided by the end of the year,’ Mr. Safonov announced at the

Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg is going to raise its fuel prices. ‘The prices on the oil market keep going up, so the airport just followed suit. This is why we sent a letter to Federal Antimonopoly Service informing them about the new price that will come to 18,460 RUR per ton beginning from August 1, 2007 (VAT excluded) At the moment, we offer our fuel for 17,810 RUR per ton,’ the airport’s press officer said to a UrBC reporter.

The spokesperson for the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region reports that head of Motor Road Administration in Sverdlovsk Region Vladimir Plishkin informed Governor Eduard Rossel about the need to repair at least 70% of the region’s highways. This means that out of 11,000 kilometers of roads, 8,000 kilometers fail to meet the standard requirements. ‘Every year, 1,226 kilometers of roads must be repaired, but only a mere 220 kilometers actually undergo construction. Then, a general overhaul must be given to a highway every decade; in reality, this only happens every 50 to 70 years. The main reason

Sverdlovsk Region public prosecution bodies are currently looking into how effectively Sverdlovsk Region Railways has been complying with the safety and vehicle maintenance regulations; the need for an investigation came about after a grave accident on July 10, 2007. The authorities have found numerous violations and deviations before: these were revealed in the course of an inspection in April 2007.

1,249,600 tons of pollutants were dumped in Sverdlovsk Region’s air from stationary sources last year, which exceeds the figures for 2005 by 6%. 9,931,500 tons of harmful emissions, or 88% of the total volume of pollutants, were trapped and neutralized, with the share of recycled pollutants coming to only 2,719,500 tons, or 27.4%, the Federal Statistics Agency reports. The emissions largely comprised solids (339,600 tons), sulfur dioxide (349,600 tons), nitrogen oxide (130,600 tons), carbon monoxide (302,400 tons), and carbohydrates (94,000 tons).

After the organization’s experts did a number of lab tests using samples of some foreign farmers’ produce, Rosselkhoznadzor (the state agricultural and veterinary watchdog) set temporary limits on the supply of foods from 78 foreign producers that used to violate Russian veterinary and sanitary norms when delivering these foods to the country, Rosselkhoznadzor’s press officer reports. As of July 10, 2007, the ban touched upon 35 EU-based companies and 19 Brazilian ones, 9 U.S. farms, 1 Uruguayan and 3 Chinese ones, a company from Chile, two places in Argentina, one Indian farm, two Ukrainian

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by AGROPROMBANK Credit to profit-making self-regulatory organizations for a term of 31 days to 90 days went down by 21.8% (from 350.436 million RUR to 273.724 million RUR) in January-June 2007.

‘Turkey and Egypt have been the tourists’ favorite holiday destinations for a few years now, and this summer is no exception. About a dozen planes leave for Turkey each week, and three planes go to Egypt,’ Director of Sputnik Travel Agency Marina Bondar said to UrBC. ‘The tour costs something like $1200 to $1400 per person, and most of Yekaterinburg dwellers are staying at four- and five-star hotels. This year, we’ve tried offering trips to Majorca, Crete, and Saloniki, but, even though the prices of traveling to either these places or Turkey and Egypt are pretty much the same, people still

‘Our regional insurers tend to merge and consolidate lately, partly because of increased and stricter demands imposed on an insurance company’s authorized capital. It is expected that about 20% of insurers based in Ural Federal District will disappear after a series of mergers. The greatest number of mergers will probably be recorded with medical insurers,’ head of Federal Insurance Authority in Ural Federal District Vladimir Ostrovskiy says. ‘A merger makes it possible for an insurance company to meet the requirements in terms of capital quality. Four companies have already left Sverdlovsk

Expert-Ural came up with a rating of Western Siberia and the Urals’ thirty-two largest banks’ corporate websites. These informational sites were evaluated on the basis of 44 different criteria that could be divided into two general categories: 1) quality of information and 2) user-friendliness and design. The website of Bank24.ru got three awards in the Best Website, the Information on the Bank, and the Navigation and Design categories. Remarkably, Bank24.ru crowned the rating in these same categories last year as well. ‘These great rating results are already becoming our good tradition. The

Central Bank of Russia reports the volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to state-owned profit-making organizations (excluding federal property) for a term of 1 to 3 years went down by 29.17% (from 4.999 million RUR to 3.541 million RUR) in January-June 2007.

A car crashed into passenger train 265 going from Nizhniy Tagil to Simferopol at an unattended railway crossing located at the 481st kilometer of Moscow Railways’ Orel-Kursk section this morning. Four people were killed in the accident, two victims of the crash are now in grave condition, Russian Railways Public Company’s press officer reports. The company claims the car driver violated traffic rules outrageously by driving onto the rails right in front of an approaching train. The motorman had to go for the emergency brake application, but this was not enough to prevent the collision.

'Apart from the requirement regarding the need for the insurers to build up on capital quantity wise, they must now pay attention to the quality of this capital as well. I believe the order on cancelling a company’s license if it fails to meet both demands should be ready within a month’s time,’ head of Insurance Authority in Ural Federal District Vladimir Ostrovskiy says. 'An insurance company might have some real estate or promissory notes provided by banks and large dependable companies to fall back on. A lot of insurers, though, took to using promissory notes of insolvent

Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg had to stop operating from 11.17 PM to 12.50 AM and from 3.50 AM to 4.50 AM on July 12, 2007 due to a major lightning storm. This resulted in planes bound to Krasnoyarsk, Bishkek, Vladivostok, and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk taking off later than had been expected. Aviaprad’s planes coming from Samara and Ufa arrived in Yekaterinburg with great delays. Moreover, the carrier had to put off flights to Noviy Urengoi and Beloyarskiy.

A conciliation committee members considered a draft bill on changes that need to be made in the law on the introduction and implementation of transport tax in Sverdlovsk Region. The bill has already been declined during the last governmental session because of the proposed tax relief for people who use environmentally friendly vehicles. As there were no statistical data on the number of Euro-5, Euro-4, Euro-3, or Euro-2 cars in the region, it was impossible to say how much money would thus be taken out of the budget. The committee members unanimously decided that only Euro-5 and Euro-4 buses