‘The local wholesale fuel prices tend to go up; the average petrol price has grown 14% since February 2007, and diesel fuel has risen by 6%,’ General Director of SverdlovskNefteProduct Nikolai Kuzin said to UrBC. ‘Further increase in wholesale prices will possibly affect the retail ones, although it’s hard to say right now just how the retail prices will change,’ Mr. Kuzin said. According to Vedomosti newspaper, the rising global oil prices and the seasonal growth of domestic demand made prices rise dramatically: they soared 25% last month, which might mean having your car filled at a gas

The insulation coating of one of filtering vessels caught fire during the installation process at the recycling facility under construction next to Sverdlovsk-Sortirovochniy railway station at 4 PM yesterday. No one was hurt, says the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region Railways. Several fire brigades were needed to put the fire out; the damage is being assessed at the moment. The accident occurred far from the railways, so the trains keep transiting as usual.

The public prosecution bodies of Ural Federal District completed the investigation of a case that involved abuse of power and large-scale embezzlement by two officers of justice of Sverdlovsk Region Service. The inquiry revealed that Alexei Parfenov and Alexei Belyi had for a number of years been using their position to forge fictitious financial records and to have money illegally transferred into their friends and relatives’ accounts in the local banks. They used to cash the money through ATMs and thus stole more than 1 million RUR. In the course of the investigation, they were fired,

The import figures within the Ural Customs Administration zone came to $726.5 million in January-February 2007, with over 52%, or $378.7 million, being the import from far abroad and 47.9%, or $347.8 million, being the import from the countries of the CIS, says the spokesperson for the Administration. Import grew 41.1% (in terms of prices) against a year earlier due to rising contract prices and increase in the amount of goods. The figures also went up 8.2% (compared to 2006) in terms of weight and amounted to 5.4 million tons. The share of import from far abroad comprised 2.5%, or 132,700

A group of Bavarian executives arrived in Yekaterinburg to see Academic construction project at the office of RENOVA Stroy Group on April 4, 2007. Among the German visitors are Bavarian Deputy Minister for Economics, Infrastructure, Transport, and Technology, Managing Director for Foreign Economic Relations of Munich Chamber of Commerce and Industry, CEO of Bayern International Reinhard Pfeiffer, and German Consul General in Yekaterinburg Tilo Klinner. RENOVA’s guests aim to have a look at the project and discuss the possible cooperation prospects. This new district is to appear in the

Sverdlovsk Region Duma approved of the changes made to chapter 8 of the regional land management law after the second and third readings. According to the changes approved of by the Duma Committee for Industrial, Agricultural, and Environmental Management Policies, the ‘no man’s land’ (that is, the land allotments that belong neither to the region nor to a municipality) will be distributed by the city councils only after agreeing on this with Sverdlovsk Region Ministry for Public Property Management.

According to their official report, Federal Financial Markets Service refused to register changes and amendments made to the trust management rules of Energy – Mixed Investments, the unit investment fund managed by Eurogreen Management Company Ltd. on March 29, 2007.

URSA Bank hit 19th in Top 30 Russian Banks rating prepared by Medialogia, the special mass media analysis and monitoring system, with the number of newspaper reports related to a bank within the period of March 1-20, 2007 used as the basic criterion. URSA Bank has been referred to 225 times (excluding ads). SibAcademBank and Uralvneshtorgbank (these two merged to become URSA Bank last December) have always been present on this Top 30 list in different positions, yet this is the first time URSA bank has ever managed to hit the rating on the basis of press accounts, which means the media have

‘The fact that Sverdlovsk Region government sold its share in the authorized capital of Sverdlovsk Gubernskiy Bank has been affecting the bank badly, since more than 50% of its performance solely depends on the regional government’s budget and support. The bank has no niche on the Ural financial market and is not likely to get one any time soon,’ Director of Institute of Economics of the Ural branch of RAS Alexander Tatarkin said to UrBC. In the meantime, the regional Minister for Public Property Management Alexei Molotkov announced at Sverdlovsk Region Duma’s extraordinary meeting on March

‘We feel that all branches of power support our project,’ says Veniamin Golubitskiy, CEO of RENOVA Stroy Group. ‘I believe this is just the beginning of private-state partnership. Our Academic construction project has been assessed by the Russian Federation President, his plenipotentiary representative in Ural Federal District, and Sverdlovsk Region Governor as well as by the local authorities. This is a large-scale program that helps identify all the challenges the construction market is currently facing. The federal authorities have already made a number of crucial decisions, including the

SKB-Bank offers a new loan scheme known as A Loan without Backers and a Bonus to customers who have already used any of the bank’s loans, paid at least one of them off, and have no delays in current payments. ‘The new scheme gives one a chance to take advantage of a more appealing interest rate and to do without backers or collaterals,’ says Consumer Lending Director Konstantin Bogatyrev. In addition, SKB-Bank has recently reduced interest rates on A Loan to a Friend and is currently working on a totally new car loan scheme, says the bank’s press officer.

‘Land is sometimes allocated illegally in Yekaterinburg, Nizhniy Tagil, and Pervouralsk,’ says Federal Antimonopoly Service in Sverdlovsk Region. ‘The law states that beginning from October 1, 2005, all land allotments meant for construction purposes must be put up to auction and there can be no arrangements between the local council and the builder. We check to see how these rules are complied with very three months and, if there are any violations to that extent, we have to do more inspections, since any prior arrangements violate free competition. The city councils often refer to the fact

According to Severnaya Kazna’s official report, the agenda of the general meeting scheduled for May 18, 2007 includes an item regarding the possible increase in the company’s authorized capital through an additional share issue. The company last went through this in October 2006, and since then, the stockholders’ shares kept being redistributed so that Severnaya Kazna’s top management now controls the blocking packet of shares. The last change took place in March 2007 when SK-Prom CEO Pavel Chernavin and Rais Garifullin sold their 19.028% and 5.002% share holdings.

Bank 24.ru organized a free workshop on the potential of Visa + Internet on March 27, 2007. There were 30 participants altogether (mostly the bank’s guests and clients) who got acquainted with the benefits of using bank cards and grace periods as well as competitive advantages of different card types and learned how much money one could make using the card interest rates. The attendants were walked through presentations of cards for both private clients and businesses (this included the so-called salary schemes and corporate cards). The workshop agenda included a quiz, with contestants having

The officers of Ural Customs Administration confiscated bottles of pirated Hugo Boss perfume offered for sale in a Salekhard-based mall last weekend. The owner of the produce failed to produce any agreement with the right holder’s representative, which violates the intellectual property protection law. The perfume, worth about 35,000 RUR, was withdrawn and stocked at a warehouse; the seller will now have to undergo a lawsuit regarding abuse of a registered trademark.

‘The limitations regarding the number of foreign workers on retail markets only refer to people without a stay or residence permit. There are, however, no limitations regarding foreign workers in malls and shops. Moreover, workers from the countries of the CIS are allowed to get a work permit in the new field without leaving Russia,’ Immigration Control Director of Federal Migration Service in Sverdlovsk Region Alexander Biryukov announced at a press conference devoted to the new federal law on retail markets. ‘The new law mainly affects foreign workers from far-abroad, since the work permit

According to the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region Governor, Eduard Rossel appointed former regional Minister for Natural Resources Alexander Yastrebkov director of a therapeutic medical facility under Sverdlovsk Region Government. It was also decided that he would be succeeded by Konstantin Kryuchkov. Konstantin V. Kryuchkov was born in Ohrenburg Region in 1961. He graduated from Ural Forestry Engineering Institute, worked as a forest warden for some time and gradually moved on to top executive positions in the natural resources management field. He was the head of the Main Forestry

A conference devoted to the new federal law on retail markets took place in Yekaterinburg on April 2, 2007. ‘It will be easier for us to monitor the municipal markets due to the general market location plan and detailed product-based plans for each market. All the management companies have been registered by now, so they will get their licenses in June 2007. We have already conducted a number of inspections, and we’ll see to it that there are more of them in the future. Each inspection, however, must be well planned. We need not only to punish but also to explain the mistakes and how to avoid

In addition to its ATM network all over Yekaterinburg, SKB-Bank set up new ATMs in its Central office at 29a Mira St., at a store located at 94 Shchorsa St., and it its office at 2 Chelyuskintsy St. ‘Our ATMs can be found in public and educational establishments, stores, malls, and office buildings, that is, in places where the card service is needed most. We have 72 ATMs in Yekaterinburg altogether, and I’m positive there will soon be more. In fact, the bank is expected to hit the three digit level by the end of the year,’ says the bank’s Bank Card Director Evgeniy Belichenko. All of

MegaFon Ural CEO Denis Malyshev is going to answer customers’ queries over the phone between 3 PM and 4 PM on April 3, 2007. The number is 8-922-100-00-00, and one can ask any questions related to the mobile operator’s performance and communication services, such as how to reduce mobile communication expenses, why it would not be reasonable to give your SIM card to anyone else, what new technologies the company is about to introduce, and how to run a huge business successfully. The call will be free for MegaFon Ural subscribers; they can also use a landline number 8 (343) 379-27-71 or e-mail