Former GD Vitaliy Kotenok resigned in order to become Regional Network Director in the company’s headquarters. Maxim Abushaev was appointed acting GD. He says that the appointment of the General Director will have been settled within a month.

‘Chelyabinsk Region market mainly gets strong drinks from the North Caucasus (Beslan and Vladikavkaz), Saint Petersburg, and Chelyabinsk. The latter has two companies that deal in producing non-refined spirit (Veles Ltd. and Alexandra Ltd.). So far, 99% of the recent poisonings have been caused by the juniper-flavored drink produced by these two manufacturers (as far as the label claims),’ Head of Chelyabinsk Region Department of RosPotrebNadzor (a consumer rights surveillance service) Anatoliy Semenov announced at the press conference. ‘However, the investigation of the poisonings revealed

The construction of No. 5 blast-furnace at Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhny Tagil JSC (part of Evraz Group) has reached its final stage. The builders completed mounting of the stoves, the furnace unit and the casting beds. All parts of the blast-furnace equipment, including the software, have already been tested. The first hot proving of all the furnace complex units is scheduled for September 26, 2006. The blast-furnace will be able to produce about 1.7m tons of cast iron annually. It is equipped with the fully enclosed casting beds and a new external cooling system; it will also

The industrial enterprises of Sverdlovsk Region have produced 46.3bn RUR worth of goods (apart from weapons and ammunition) in the eight months of the year. The production of oil field equipment has gone up by 60.9%, that of drilling rigs by 58%; the volume of ac generator output has increased by 39.4%, that of large motor generating units by 15.8%, that of medical equipment by 67%, that of computer-aided facilities and appliances by 53%, that of haulers by 36%, reports the spokesperson for Sverdlovsk Region Ministry of Industry, Power Engineering and Science.

The French visitors will take part in the proceedings of a business forum in Yekaterinburg on September 25, 2006. A similar event will take place in Moscow as well. The local forum will be attended by the French Minister for Foreign Trade Christine Lagarde, who is going to meet the local entrepreneurs interested in doing business with their French counterparts. The Minister is planning to have a look at the construction site of Auchan and a five-star premium class hotel. The French party includes representatives of over 30 companies dealing in metallurgy, construction activity, woodworking,

Former CEO of Klyuchevsk Ferroalloy Works Sergey Odinokov was appointed First Deputy GD of Russian Special Alloys Management Company. He will now assist the current General Director Sergey Gilvarg. Vladimir Dorokhov was appointed the company’s Financial Department Director, Maxim Balakin was appointed Economics Department Director, and Nikolai Kuzmin became CEO of Klyuchevsk Ferroalloy Works. A number of top managers from Russian Chrome 1915 will now combine their jobs with the positions in the management company. Valeriy Ladygin was appointed Chrome Compound Production Counselor to GD, Yuriy

‘Unfortunately, Eureka Mining is not the most transparent company in the world; this is why it is rather difficult to get any information on its finances. It certainly is involved in a lot of projects all over the world, yet developing Mikheevskoye deposit will require at least $300m,’ the expert of FINAM Investment Company Alesya Breenkova said to UrBC representative. ‘Given the money the company has already invested in the project, it might be actually short of money, which is why Eureka Mining is likely to cooperate with a large Russian mining and metallurgical enterprise. Besides, Eureka

The public prosecution bodies of Yamal intend to appeal from the judgement of Court of Noviy Urengoi concerning Chairman of EuroGreen Ilya Gaffner due to lenient penalty. The accused was charged with arrears of wages to employees of SevTumenTransPut and got three years on parole. The plans of the public prosecution authorities were reported by Senior Assistant to the Public Prosecutor Evgeniy Zalov. ‘The Prosecutor was asking for three and a half years in prison and the non-eligibility period of two years that would prevent Mr Gaffner from serving in senior positions,’ Mr Zalov said. After

According to the Central Bank of Russia, the volume of credits given by UralTransBank to state-owned commercial organizations (except for those owned federally) for a term of 181 days to 1 year has gone down by 65% (from 287,000 RUR to 100,000 RUR) within January to August 2006.

SibAcademBank and UralVneshTorgBank held a press conference called The New Banking Brand; New Name of SibAcademBank & UralVneshTorgBank in Moscow on September 21, 2006. The conference was devoted to the recent merger and re-branding, reports their spokesperson. The reports were presented by Chairman of SibAcademBank, Chairman of Supervisory Board of UralVneshTorgBank Igor Kim, Board Member of SibAcademBank, Chairman of ZhelDorBank Alexander Taranov, General Director of SibAcademBank Kirill Brel, the Director of Russia, Central Europe and Specialized Branches Business Group of European

Airline Business magazine published its traditional rating of the world’s best carriers for 2005. Only eight Russian companies were included in the 200-position rating, based on their passenger turnover, and one of them was Ural Airlines. According to the company’s Commercial Director Kirill Skuratov, Ural Airlines are determined to hit the Top 200 rating next year as well. This claim appears to be well-grounded as the carrier has been quite successful over the last months. It has already serviced 12% more passengers since the beginning of the year than in the eight months of 2005, regardless

According to the data provided by the Ministry for International and Foreign Economic Relations of Sverdlovsk Region, the regional and Kazakhstan’s foreign trade turnover amounted to $468,946,000 in January-June 2006, which gets the region the third position on the turnover list. Its share of the turnover came to 11.11%, with $260,998,320 worth of export, $207,947,680 worth of import, and amount of balance reaching the point of $53,050,640.

‘The verdict concerning Ilya Gaffner who had been charged with arrears of wages to employees of SevTyumenTransPut was returned at 9 AM today. The guilt of the accused was proved, so Mr Gaffner got three years on parole with a 12-month probation period,’ the spokesperson for the Court of Noviy Urengoy said to UrBC representative. The judicial hearing preceding the verdict was resumed on September 12, 2006. Mr Gaffner was charged with failing to pay the employees of SevTyumenTransPut around 47m RUR (Article 145-1 (Part 2) of Russian Criminal Code).

‘SverdlovEnergoSbyt has become Sverdlovsk Region’s guaranteeing supplier, with the guaranteed amount of electricity coming to 95% for the year 2007,’ announced the presenters at the conference devoted to the introduction of the new competitive electricity market. According to Provision of the Russian Government on rules and regulations for the performance of retail electricity markets during the transition period, Sverdlovsk Region is only allowed to have one guaranteeing supplier. The new market is expected to expand by 5 % to 10% every year.

Tube Works of Pervouralsk assessed the results of its activity in January-August 2006. For instance, the company has shipped 499,000 tons of goods since the beginning of the year.

Russian Department Director of Auchan Gérôme De-Pey met Mayor of Yekaterinburg Arkadiy Chernetskiy to discuss the delayed opening of Auchan hypermarket that is going to be located on the premises of Mega trade center, constructed by IKEA. M. De-Pey said that Auchan was planning to introduce two more stores in Yekaterinburg within the next one and a half or two years. One of them is going to be a large 18,000-square meter store; another will take up 8,000 square meters. The company is currently looking for the most suitable sites, choosing among eight options offered by the city council. The

Commercial Director of Ural Airlines JSC Kirill Skuratov spoke on the introduction of flights to new destinations (India, China, and Thailand) at today’s press conference called What Ural Airlines Have in Store for the Coming Fall. ‘There isn’t going to be any fuel fee for these destinations, nor will we charge for that on Egypt-bound flights. The cheapest ticket to India, China, and Thailand will cost $849, $549, and $899, respectively,’ Mr Skuratov said.

ChelyabEnergo, the supplier of Chelyabinsk Region, initiated the work of the committee whose task is to examine how prepared the subsidiary network is for the coming fall and winter. The examination includes all-round and fair assessment of all the parameters of the mains in terms of how well they will be able to operate in very low temperature. The committee reports will lead to the subsidiaries receiving or not receiving special preparedness certificates for 2006/2007, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. The company has already spent 400m RUR on repairs and renovation

Tube-rolling plant of Chelyabinsk sums up its achievements in eight months of 2006. The company sold 611,900 tubes, including 317,300 tons of large-diameter tubes. The works shipped 106,500 tons of goods in August 2006, including 53,600 tons of large-diameter tubes.

Commercial Director of Ural Airlines JSC Kirill Skuratov spoke on the results of the company’s recent re-branding at today’s press conference called What Ural Airlines Have in Store for the Coming Fall. ‘So far, the company has serviced 700,000 passengers after the completion of the campaign, which is 12% more than in the same period of 2005,’ Mr Skuratov said.