URSA Bank held a press conference devoted to their experience with international investors and attracting foreign capital to Russia in Kazan on May 21, 2007. This was part of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development international forum; some reports were presented by URSA Bank Chairman Igor Kim, Member of the Board Alexander Taranov, and First Deputy GD Vladislav Khokhlov. ‘The media have been paying a lot of attention to our dynamic financial growth and long-term cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Our profits more than tripled last year, and

SverdlovEnergoSbyt, Nizhniy Novgorod Supplies, Kuzbass Energy Supplies, and OrenburgEnergoSbyt sold their share holdings belonging to RAO UES of Russia by auction on May 22, 2007. The opening bid for 49% of SverdlovEnergoSbyt’s shares was 1.15 billion RUR; that for 100% of shares of OrenburgEnergoSbyt was 1.11 billion; the price difference between each bid had to be at least 25 million RUR. There were seven participants (coming from both Russia and abroad) altogether. Center Region Invest was able to acquire both SverdlovEnergoSbyt and OrenburgEnergoSbyt’s share holdings at the opening

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of nongovernmental financial institutions’ deposits in METCOMBANK valid for 1 to 3 years went down 99% (from 32million RUR to 208,000 RUR) in January-April 2007.

The PR Department of the British Consulate General in Yekaterinburg reports that their visa section is soon to be located at a new address, namely, 36 Gogol St. Off. 1002. The office is situated on the tenth floor. Up to May 28, 2007, visa applicants will be interviewed in the old building (24 Lenin St.)

Yekaterinburg municipal duma deputies approved of the city’s budgetary report for 2006 on May 22, 2007. As it happens, the revenues amounted to 15 billion RUR, which is 8.8% better than the annual target figures. About 4 billion RUR were donated by the regional and federal budgets as well, duma’s press officer reports. Local legal entities still have to transfer 1 billion RUR to Yekaterinburg’s budget; then, the budgetary expenses came to approximately 13.4 billion RUR, which falls short of the annual target figures by 1.4%. These were occasioned by spending on education (34.5%), public

Governor of Chelyabinsk Region Petr Sumin decided to set up an ad hoc committee responsible for design and construction of the federal cardiovascular surgery center. The committee consists of First Deputy Governors Vladimir Dyatlov and Andrei Kosilov, Head of Federal Property Management Agency in Chelyabinsk Region Alexander Vlasov, Minister for Radiation and Environmental Safety Gennadiy Podtesov, and voluntary Deputy Governor Grigory Petukhov. The committee has to come up with the design and construction schedule before June 10, 2007. The new clinic is going to become Ural Federal

Sverdlovsk Region industrial production index grew by 21.6% in April 2007 compared to a year earlier and by 13.8% in January-April 2007 against four months of 2006. The most impressive growth rates were reported with machine-building and equipment making (58.6%), production of perfumes and cosmetics (43.9%), plastic goods (25.25%), radio and television equipment (24.3%), furniture (22.3%), plywood and wood panel production (22.6%), fish and seafood processing (22.3%), and metal goods production (15%). The production of knitwear, animal and vegetable fats, pharmaceuticals, and trucks went down

Customs officers of Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg filed a criminal suit against the offender who was trying to smuggle some U.S. dollars while leaving Russia, Ural Customs Administration reports. A Russian citizen leaving for London never told the officers she had over $13,200 on her, thus violating the current customs and currency regulations. This sum equaled to about 354,800 RUR on the day of the flight; this is classed as the amount of money large enough to take legal action.

238,900 square meters of dwellings were commissioned in Sverdlovsk Region in January-April 2007, which exceeds the figures for the four months of 2006 by 30.4%. 159,700 square meters worth of housing can be classed as one-family houses (this is 1.6 times better than a year earlier); this comes to 66.8% of all the dwellings put up in the region within the given period. 35 cities and districts did better in terms of housing construction than a year earlier, with 31 cities improving last year’s construction rates by 20% or more. Verknyaya Pyshma, Berezovskiy, Revda, Pervouralsk, Nizhniy Tagil,

Severnaya Kazna’s e-bank users might have some trouble making their payments as CyberPlat reports it might take longer to transfer the customers’ money into their mobile phone accounts in case they use Beeline, MTS, Utel, or TELE2. This is why all those making mobile phone payments through Severnaya Kazna’s ATMs, e-portals, or text messages might have to wait a bit before the money is actually transferred to their accounts. The bank has already experienced a number of problems with its Internet-Bank and Client-Bank systems before; for instance, the services were not available from 9 AM to 4

According to Deputy Minister for Construction and Housing Maintenance and Utilities of Sverdlovsk Region Bogdan Protsyk, last year’s heating season was quite smooth. There were only a few serious and costly breakdowns in Verkhnyaya Salda and Nizhnyaya Salda that the ministry believes had been caused by depreciation of equipment and maintenance facilities, insufficient funding of housing repairs by the local budget, and huge electricity, heating, and fuel bills. 9 billion RUR were invested in housing maintenance and utilities in 2006, with another 1.8 billion contributed by the regional

RENOVA Stroy Group presented its Academic construction project (the breadboard model of the future city district) at the 12th Russian Economic Forum held in Yekaterinburg on May 18-19, 2007. 'This is Europe and Russia’s largest multi-faceted area development project to date. ‘Our stand enjoyed great popularity at the forum, with several hundred people checking it out within two days (Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel, Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region Government Sergey Naryshkin, Deputy Russian Federation Minister of Transport Alexander Misharin, President of the International

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of profit-making NGOs’ deposits in Uralfinprombank valid for 181 days to 1 year went down 100% (from 1.5 million RUR to zero) in January-April 2007.

The Russian Federation Ministry of Internal Affairs reports two swindlers accused of stealing money from people’s bank accounts using the cardholders’ personal data were detained in Yekaterinburg. The offenders are reported to have been operating in both Russia and Europe. ‘These Bulgarian citizens, believed to be members of an international group, arrived in Yekaterinburg early this May; the consul of Bulgaria has already been notified,’ the Ministry’s press officer says. The inquiry officers are inclined to think the perpetrators tried to illegally install special devices onto the local

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of investments placed by nongovernmental financial institutions with METCOMBANK for 1 to 3 years went down 100% (from 58 million RUR to zero) in January-April 2007.

The regional law-enforcement bodies stopped the operation of a large clandestine manufacturing facility in Yekaterinburg. It turned out that the premises of one of the city’s military units had been used for the production and packaging of adulterated foods, including Nestle cocoa powder, thus exploiting the popularity of the brand on the consumer market to the fraudsters’ own benefit. The damage done to the Swiss company is estimated at 18 million RUR. The offenders will have to go through a criminal trial.

Rospotrebnadzor (the state consumer rights watchdog) imposed a temporary ban on certain types of Euvax B vaccine aimed at prevention of hepatitis B and produced by LG Life Sciences (the Republic of Korea). The World Health Organization Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals reports grave negative side effects (including even some lethal outcomes) have been experienced by children in Vietnam. After it completes investigation of these side reactions, the World Health Organization intends to issue recommendations on the use of and reports on quality and safety of the vaccine.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, volume of loans given by GRAN Bank to profit-making NGOs for 181 days to 1 year went down 8.5% (from 369.44 million RUR to 337.965 million RUR) in January-April 2007.

IES Multiutilities loses up to 100 million RUR a year due to unauthorized network use, the company’s press officer reports. Their experts say that electricity is most commonly stolen by people putting up cottages in the countryside.

Director of Wings travel club Natalia Oborina said at a press conference last Friday that the number of Yekaterinburg-based travel agents was going down. 'Changes made to the law on travel services will result in most tours being ordered from the agents operating in Moscow. This could be good for tourists, as our Moscow-based counterparts are normally on less limited budgets, they have to compete much more fiercely and therefore are not likely to raise the prices dramatically. One bad thing about the new regulations is that Moscow travel agents usually service mass travel destinations,