According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of natural persons’ deposits and other investments in UralTransBank valid for 91 to 180 days went down 75% (from 124.077 million to 30.959 million) in January-April 2007.

Russian Federation Minister of Emergencies Sergey Shoigu is going to arrive in Yekaterinburg in order to participate a meeting of the regional Civil Defense and Emergencies Committee on June 15, 2007, the spokesperson for Governor of Sverdlovsk Region reports. The meeting will also be attended by other ministry representatives as well as by civil defense commanders, heads of rescue and recovery teams, and their Kazakh colleagues. The agenda of the meeting covers issues related to interregional cooperation in terms of protecting both the population and the area in case of emergencies.

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel suggested that his administration should approve of the project aimed at setting up a non-profit partnership known as Ural Pharmaceutical Holding, the spokesperson for the Governor reports. According to Boris Charniy (CEO of Territorial Obligatory Medical Insurance Fund), Ural Pharmaceutical Holding would comprise scientific research institutes and centers, colleges, universities, and pharmaceutical enterprises as well as retail and wholesale dealers. ‘The Organic Synthesis Institute under the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Ural division, Ural Medical

MegaFon Ural, one of the region’s manor mobile operators, resumed its White Nights special offer on June 7, 2007. The offer provides for free calls within the operator’s network from midnight till eight AM, with text messages only priced .3 RUR (VAT included). The offer is available to of MegaFon’s subscribers, regardless of the tariff scheme they use, only costs 10 RUR (VAT included) to subscribe to, and is valid through September 30, 2007. The monthly fee amounts to 30 RUR (VAT included) in Kirov, Kurgan, Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Perm Regions and in the Republics of Komi and Udmurtia;

URSA Bank’s Chelyabinsk-based subsidiary evaluated the results of its Super-Agent 2007 contest on June 2, 2007; the contest was held on April16-May 31, 2007 and involved over 50 realtors from 34 real estate agencies. In order to apply for a prize, a realtor had to try to process as many URSA Bank’s mortgage loans as possible. Elena Puchnina of Kvartirniy Otvet Agency won the first prize (a laptop), with three other shortlisted candidates receiving smaller prizes. ‘Our agency was very lucky, as we’ve actually won two times (one of our employees won the fourth prize), which is just delightful.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Uralfinprombank to profit-making self-regulatory organizations went down 35% (from 255.187 million RUR to 163.752 million RUR) in January-May 2007.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by AGROPROMBANK Credit to natural persons for a term of 31 to 90 days went down 95% (from 1.07 billion RUR to 46,000 RUR) in January-April 2007.

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel chaired a meeting of the supervisory boards of Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Investment Support Fund; the meeting was attended by Chairman of Development Bank Vladimir Dmitriev, the spokesperson for the Governor reports. Mr. Dmitriev commented on the goals and targets of the newly founded bank and said they were fully prepared to actively cooperate with the region’s business community, whereupon First Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Galina Kovaleva handed a list of regional investment projects over to Mr. Dmitriev.

‘Geely Otaka cars are not likely to be able to compete price-wise with VAZ 2110, 2111, 2112 cars or Lada Kalina. Firstly, a Geely Otaka car costs 300,000 RUR on average, which is about 60,000 RUR more expensive than Lada Kalina. Secondly, VAZ keeps improving on the car parts and kitting every year, bringing its cars in compliance with the European standards in this regard. This is why you wouldn’t think it very probable that Geely Otaka sedans are going to become Russian cars’ serious rival,’ Sales Manager of Autonom Motor Show Rishat Nigamatov said to UrBC. ‘Thirdly, Geely Otaka buyers might

Khortytsa (aka Hortiza) Distillery has successfully undergone an audit procedure and has been certified in accordance with ISO 22000 international standards. The company’s press officer reports their produce is now brought in full compliance with the ISO 22000 requirements introduced in 2005 by the International Organization for Standardization. These requirements were based on ISO 9001 standards as well as on the principles outlined by НАССР (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points). The standard lays special emphasis on compliance with the legal norms and regulations in terms of

The Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region is going to consider the case of Vista Travel Agency on June 14, 2007. Vista (half of whose shares (51%) was bought by Finpromco in March 2007) is facing accusations of violating the federal advertising law and has had a lawsuit filed against them since their ads appear to promote violence. Vista’s ads use slogans like ‘Bury our mother-in-law in the sand for $399’, ‘Throw your mom into the sea for $399’, and ‘I’ll strip my husband of his clothes for $399’. Some admen actually think Vista Travel Agency knew very well that it was going to

Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel met head of Sverdlovsk Region Railways Vladimir Suprun. The Governor spoke about the acute shortage of carriages for transporting timber, ore, and manufactured goods that many industrial producers in the region were experiencing. It was also decided that problems Sverdlovsk Region Railways had been struggling with lately were to be discussed at a meeting of Economic Issues Board under the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region.

‘We can already predict that the average monthly salary within the region is going to reach 14,000 RUR, which is 25.5% better than a year earlier,’ Sverdlovsk Region Minister for Economics and Labor Galina Kovaleva announced at the regional government meeting on June 6, 2007. The meeting was devoted to compliance of the regional authorities with the President’s address to the Federal Assembly regarding the country’s development in 2007-2008. Regional cabinet members, representatives of the federal authorities, mayors of regional cities, directors of large industrial enterprises and

Ural Airlines Board of Directors decided to gradually do away with its TU 154B airplanes; three planes have already been written off, with the remaining eight planes to follow suit by 2010. These are to be replaced with the medium-range Airbus A320 liners. ‘We go for Airbus planes since they are quite fuel-efficient (two times better than the Russian counterparts) and relatively low on harmful emissions; the noise is kept at the minimum level; then, there is a very smooth and clear maintenance system, and, besides, these liners can boast a comfortable cabin and strict safety requirements,’

Severnaya Kazna BOD Chairman Vladimir Frolov reduced his share holding in the bank’s authorized capital from 23.929% to 23.352%, or by .58%. According to the bank’s official website, Severnaya Kazna Insurance Company Ltd. reduced its share holding from 3.602% to 2.602%. At the same time, the share of Chairman Andrei Volchik in the bank’s authorized capital went up from 7.044% to 7.691%, or by .65%. Prior to this, Mr. Volchik has reduced his share holding twice this year: from 7.995% to 7.044% (or by .951%) on May 4, 2007, and from 10.024% to 7.955% on April 25, 2007. This information was

Chelyabinsk Region Minister of Agriculture Ivan Feklin announced at the Governor Administration meeting that 1.4 billion RUR had to be invested in the spring sowing campaign. The minister reported 197 million RUR were contributed from the federal budget in the form of fuel subsidies, 434 million RUR came from the regional provision fund, with 300 million RUR spent on combustive-lubricating stuffs and fuel and the rest on herbicides, high quality grains, fodder crops, vegetable and corn seeds.

Uralsevergas announced that all its consumers must pay off their debts, as the company finds it extremely difficult to cover supply and delivery of natural gas if most of the housing maintenance and utilities services never pay their bills. As a result, Sverdlovsk Region might be getting considerably less gas soon, which is going to make preparations for the heating season 2007/2008 quite complicated. Uralsevergas reports there are 27 regional municipalities with 900 million RUR worth of debt on the list altogether.

Sudostroitelny Bank (Shipbuilding Bank) coordinated the second tranche of Bank24.ru. The volume of the tranche comes to 100 million RUR; its profitability is estimated at 11.5% a year for 60 million RUR to be paid within six months’ time and at 12.5% a year for 40 million RUR to be paid within nine months’ time. The promissory notes are accepted by both Shipbuilding Bank and Bank24.ru. ‘Shipbuilding Bank is to support Bank24.ru’s secondary market, including repurchase operations and accepting the bank’s promissory notes as inter-bank loan collateral,’ Bank24.ru’s Treasurer Maria Shvetsova

Foreign trade turnover at Nizhniy Tagil customs amounted to $962.2 million in January-April 2007, which is 25.9% better than in the corresponding period of 2006. 83.2% of goods handled by the customs were sent to or from the far abroad (this totaled to $800.4 million), 16.8% of goods were sent to or from the NIS (this totaled to $161.8 million), the spokesperson for Ural Customs Administration reports. The volume of trade turnover related to the members of the CIS went up 7.2% compared to January-April 2006 and reached $161.8 million (this was mainly due to a 169.5% increase in export to

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank to profit-making self-regulatory organizations for 31 to 90 days went down 25% (from 176.067 million RUR to 131.65 million RUR) in January-May 2007.