According to the Central Bank of Russia, the doubtful consumer debt to Ural Treasures Bank CJSC has gone up by 34% (from 104.908 million RUR to 140.601 million) within the six months of 2006. As for the period of January to May 2006, the consumer debt experienced the growth of 22% (from 104.908 million to 127.655 million RUR).

According to the Central Bank of Russia, arrears of credit payments by individual entrepreneurs to UralTransBank have gone up by 11.7% (from 7.554 million RUR to 8.440 million) within the six months of 2006. As for the period of January to May 2006, the arrears of payments went up by 7% (from 7.554 million to 8.118 million RUR).

Russian market of shares appears to be rather flattened at the moment. Most of the blue chips grew 1.3% to 3.9% cheaper at 12.30 PM Moscow time; RTS average went down by 1.3% and comprised 1,465.7 points, MICEX average decreased by 2.5% and reached 1,280.4 points. The shares of RAO UES of Russia (RTS: EESR) went 1.6% cheaper at MICEX, the shares of LUKOIL (RTS: LKOH) went 2.3% cheaper, the shares of Rostelecom (RTS: RTKM) – 1.8%, the shares of SberBank of Russia (RTS: SBER) – 2.8%, the shares of Tatneft (RTS: TATN) – 1.3%, the shares of Norilsk Nickel (RTS: GMKN_ - 3.2%, the shares of

‘The shortage of legally produced vodka caused by the changes to the production accounting standards and import and trading regulations is more likely to be felt by the wholesalers rather than retail outlets. According to the data I have, the retailer may be affected some time around the New Year’s Eve,’ said the director of UKM Supermarket Ltd. Valentina Rudakova. Yet Novie Izvestia newspaper reports that vodka shortage will emerge in many Russian regions as early as the second half of August, which will lead to a dramatic increase in the cases of poisoning caused by drinking various alcohol

‘Even though the charter flights to Egypt come within Israeli-Lebanese war zone, our company has been performing them on regular basis. We do not even have to take extra safety steps as the measures we have already taken meet the safety requirements on a flight like this,’ PR Director of TransAero Airline Sergey Bykhal said to UrBC representative. ‘We’ve transferred our passengers through war zones before; thus, we’ve been taking people to Israel since 1993, and we kept performing flights even when the war was at its height. We naturally had to change the routes sometimes, but, altogether,

‘The aircraft of S7/Siberia JSC is going to be examined by the Federal Transport Surveillance Administration; this is expected to take seven to ten days,’ the spokesperson for Department of Transportation Konstantin Rubakhin said to UrBC representative. Igor Levitin, Minister for Transportation, announced that such check-ups would take place at the Government sitting yesterday.

SUAL Group has recently looked at the results of its activity in the first six months of 2006. Its output of primary aluminum reached the point of 525,900 tons, which exceeds the figures for the first six months of 2005 by 1.6%, reports the company’s spokesperson. This increase is due to completing all the upgrading projects in the electrolysis production at all of the aluminum plants of the Group

Zinc Plant of Chelyabinsk JSC finalized all the procedures connected with the integrated management certification audit. The audit was carried out by BVQI, a reputable international body that confirmed that the plant meets all the requirements needed to get ISO 9001-2000 certificate in quality management and ISO 14001-2004 in environmental management, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. The company’s General Director Vsevolod Geihmann observed, ‘The plant possesses a multi-layered environmental monitoring system, and within the last seven years, we have managed to decrease

In June 2006, the company took 236,200 tons of clean coal, which makes up 74.6% of all the coal produced in June 2005. The overburden operations at Korkinksiy mine resulted in 541,000 cubic meters of ground. The company advanced 11 meters farther in terms of development working than had previously been planned. Their technicians worked through 461 meters altogether. Coal Company of Chelyabinsk JSC shipped 193,700 tons of solid fuel in June 2006, most of which went to South Ural State District Power Plant, the spokesperson for the company’s economic department said to UrBC representative.

Governor Eduard Rossel met a group of executives from Itera Oil and Gas Company Ltd. headed by Igor Makarov, the company’s President. Mr Makarov introduced their new General Director and Chairman Vladimir Makeev to Mr Rossel. Mr Makeev assured the Governor that Itera would definitely keep cooperating with Sverdlovsk Region businesses and go on participating in other projects. Mr Rossel noted that the company was also known to take part in construction programs of socially important buildings as well as for doing charity, so he expressed his gratitude to the company’s representatives for their

Since the beginning of the year, damage caused to Yekaterinburg Electrical Networks Ltd. by businesses or private individuals has come to 500,000 RUR, yet only 77,000 RUR have so far been compensated, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative.

SUAL Group has looked at its success in the first six months of 2006. Its pgrading of production facilities and efficient marketing policy have resulted in a steady increase in production, the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative. Thus, the Group has produced 26.5% more rolled metal and intermediate products in the first six months of 2006 than in the corresponding period of 2005. The output of foils and aluminum tape went up by 5.9%. In addition, the company produced 4.2% more of consumer goods compared to a year earlier.

According to the Central Bank of Russia, the volume of loans given by Ural Treasures Bank CJSC to natural persons for a term of 91 to 180 days has gone down by 53% (from 25.046 million RUR to 11.820 million) throughout January to June 2006. As for the period of January to May 2006, the volume of loans given by the Bank to natural persons for a term of 91 to 180 days dropped by 45% (from 25.046 million to 13.767 million).

Throughout January to June 2006, the company has taken 1401.1 tons of clean coal. The overburden operations at Korkinksiy mine resulted in 2,261,000 cubic meters of ground, which makes up 98.5% of the planned amount. The company’s technicians worked through 4234 meters in terms of development working. Coal Company of Chelyabinsk JSC has shipped 1,260,600 tons of solid fuel in January to June 2006, most of which (733,600 tons) went to South Ural State District Power Plant, the spokesperson for the company’s economic department said to UrBC representative.

‘155 people were taken to municipal clinic # 40 and 15 people to central clinic # 2 from IKEA construction site yesterday. Eight of them had to be immediately transferred to the intensive care unit; their condition was quite severe but by now, things have improved. The condition of 105 people can be characterized as moderately severe; the condition of 57 people is described as not severe. ‘The life of the patients is out of danger now, but they will only be allowed to leave the hospitals after the doctors actually identify the toxico-infectious microbial flora that was at the back of the food

At 9 PM on July 12, 2006, the public prosecution authorities of Verkh-Isetskiy District of Yekaterinburg commenced a criminal lawsuit concerning the alleged violation of sanitary-and-hygienic regulations that led to food poisoning of over 150 builders from IKEA construction site, reports the spokesperson for the Public Prosecutor of Sverdlovsk Region. The preliminary investigation shed some light on the events of July 12: at about 6 PM, over 90 Turkish and Tajik citizens with symptoms of food poisoning were brought into municipal clinic # 40 directly from the construction site. It turned out

Metallurgical Industrial Complex of Nizhniy Tagil JSC (part of Evraz Group) has recently launched the new power substation with the capacity of 13.5 megawatt. The substation will provide electricity for the company’s by-product-coking production, particularly No. 5 cokery–based unit currently under construction. The station is fitted with all the modern control and protection systems and is fully automated into the bargain, the company’s spokesperson reports to UrBC representative.

Regional transport dealer Chelyabspetstrans JSC held the annual general meeting on June 30, 2006. The meeting resulted in approving of the company’s annual report, the accounting report, including the profit and loss statement, and profit distribution. The shareholders also decided to pass a dividend for 2005 and elected five Members of the Board: Oleg Slinkov, Anatoliy Chevardin, Venera Titova, Igor Nesterov, and Sergey Skudnov. The Board of Directors remuneration fund was set at 100,000 RUR. The participants of the meeting agreed on the amendments to the company’s Charter, elected the

Tashragolskiy and Abakanskiy subsidiaries of Evrazruda JSC (Russian ore maker and part of Evraz Group) have been testing the new anchoring technologies consisting in replacing the old organic steel anchorage with the modern polymerous steel kind in the areas where mine working is most intense and there is greater risk of bolting going loose. The greatest advantage of this polymerous steel anchorage consists in being able to take a much greater load than the organic steel one, which allows for much improves safety of mine working in the areas where the rock is less stable than elsewhere.

Ural Airlines JSC outbid its rivals in the bidding coming from Personnel Training and Retraining Department of Government of Yakutia/Sakha; the preferred carrier will service the students studying in colleges and universities of Yekaterinburg. There were ten applicants altogether. ‘The criteria for the final decision included the pricing policy, high quality service, and safety,’ the leading executive of the Department Ivan Neustroev said to UrBC representative. ‘Ural Airlines have transferred students from Yakutia at the instance of our Department in the past, so ours is a long-term