No official orders to withdraw Borjomi mineral water from Sverdlovsk Region stores have been issued yet; however, the executives of local division of Rospotrebnadzor, a consumer goods watchdog, have already sent letters to their departments asking to check out all ‘suspicious-looking’ Borjomi bottles, their spokesperson Anna Kalinina said to UrBC representative. ‘We’re not going to withdraw every single bottle, just the suspicious-looking ones. The latter will undergo an expert examination and, should they fail to meet our demands, they will have to be taken away from the stores anyway,’ Ms

S7 Airlines signed interline agreements with Singapore Airlines and TAP (Air Portugal). The agreements provide for mutual acceptance of bills of lading and other papers concerning cargo. According to Interline Director of S7 GROUP Dmitriy Pavlushin, passengers using S7 can now acquire tickets for any Singapore Airlines and TAP flights, and vice versa. Besides, they can use a single form to book and buy the ticket for any of the three carriers’ flights. S7 spokesperson also mentioned the upcoming special agreement with Singapore Airlines that will allow S7 passengers use special tariffs for

Gorno-Shakhtskiy and Irbinksiy subsidiaries of Evrazruda, Russian ore maker, located in Kemerov Region and Krasnoyarsk Region, respectively, have recently undergone working conditions certification procedure that lasted for 6 months. According to Evrazruda spokesperson, the company executives carried out the full examination and assessment of working conditions against the technical, technological, safety, and organizational standards. Some of the working places were found suitable, some of them only partly so; now the company is taking steps to improve the quality of the latter. Thus the

Stockholder meeting of Yekaterinburgskaya Electrosetevaya Kompaniya JSC (Electric Supply Network Company of Yekaterinburg) is to be held on June 13, 2006. The agenda includes six points: stockholders are to elect members of the company’s Board of Directors, the inspection commission and to approve of the company’s auditor. They also are to consider the questions of approving of the company’s annual report and annual accounting statements for the fiscal year 2005 as well as the questions of declaring dividends and of profit distribution. The company’s Board of Directors has recommended that

Within the first quarter of 2006, the net profit of Chelyabinsky Zincovy Zavod JSC (Zinc Works of Chelyabinsk) increased by 65.7% against the same figure for the previous quarter. According to the company’s press release, the increase is due to the escalation of zinc prices on the world market. The company’s net profit in the first quarter of 2006 has amounted to 344,550,000 RUR.

The stockholder meeting of Chelyabinsk-Lada JSC is to be held on May 25, 2006. The agenda contains approving of the financial results of 2005, profit distribution including the dividends declaration, determining the number of members of the company’s Board of Directors and approving of the company’s auditor. The stockholders will also address the question of the possible capital increase through placement of an additional stock issue, and the question of approving of a transaction the company is interested in completing.

Annual meeting of Chelyabinskiy Kuznechno-Pressoviy Zavod JSC (Forge-and-press Works) shareholders is going to take place on May 25, 2006. The shareholders will be acquainted with the results of the company’s financial activity in 2005; they will also have to decide on the profit distribution, elect the Board members, the inspection committee, and the company’s Auditor. Another issue concerns the amendments to the company’s Charter.

Annual meeting of Varnenskiy bread production complex shareholders is going to take place on May 18, 2006. The points on the agenda include assessment of the company’s financial success in 2005, electing the Board members, the inspection committee, and the company’s Auditor.

Cement works of Chelyabinsk Region will invest over 1.4bn RUR in production development and environmental projects in 2006-2010, the spokesperson for Chelyabinsk Region Ministry of Construction, Infrastructure, and Roads said to UrBC representative. UralCement CJSC is expected to invest ?5.5m in a number of environmental projects and equipment upgrading. KatavCement JSC (part of EuroCement JSC) will direct 536.6m RUR to the development of marl extracting mine, introducing automated equipment, improvements in energy supply and other projects. Magnitogorskiy Cementno-Ogneuporniy Zavod JSC

Uraltrubprom JSC, Ural tube maker, assessed its productivity in April 2006. According to the company’s PR-department, the sales in April 2006 came to 19,054 tons of goods, which exceeds the correspondent figures for the previous year by 31.5%. A large share of the goods sold (13,338 tons or 70%) was made up by electric-welded joist closed web. The company sold 5,176 tons of oil pipes as well. Uraltrubprom also opened OY Trubprom Europe Ltd, its representative office in Finland, in order to extend its market.

In April 2006, Ashinsky Metallurgichesky Zavod JSC (Metallurgical Works of Asha) produced 556,657,000 RUR worth of goods. This was reported to UrBC representative by the company’s PR-department. Within the month of April, the company produced 48,818 tons of steel, 40,516 tons of rolled metal, 5,115.8 kg of amorphous tape, 165,978 magnetic conductors. The company also produced 32,371,800 RUR worth of consumer goods.

The official receiver of Yuryuzanskiy machine building works announced an auction aimed at selling the company’s assets, namely, part of the rights to electrical facility 1500/300, a dock, and some rooms in the automatic mechanical shop. The auction is to take place on May 30, 2006.

In April 2006, Teplopribor JSC successfully finished the qualification testing of SC-02 universal communication module with data memory for KASKAD-E intelligent controller. SC-02 is a high-speed communication module for connection to managed-data network. It ensures data transfer from the input-output system built on KASKAD-E intelligent controllers to the network master device (PS compatible computer etc.) According to the company’s marketing department, SC-02 is to be put into batch production within May 2006.

CHTZ UralTruck Ltd. supplied its new B-12 bulldozer to a company in Afghanistan dealing in mining equipment supplies to the north of the country. As the company’s spokesperson said to UrBC representative, the transaction was the logical outcome of direct contacts of CHTZ with its foreign partners. Provided that the bulldozer proves effective in Afghanistan, the company should receive more orders.

Chelyabinsk regional court decided on May 11 as the date to proceed with the preliminary trial of GD of Mayak Production Association Vitaliy Sadovnikov. According to the spokesperson, they are not allowed to announce the names of the judges yet. Mr Sadovnikov was charged with violation of regulations concerning operation and maintenance of environmentally hazardous equipment and waste (Clauses 246 and 247 (Part 1) of Russian Criminal Code) in February 2006. According to the results of the investigation carried out by the General Public Prosecutor of Russian Federation, the management’s

Abagurskaya processing and agglomeration plant (part of Evrazruda JSC) completed the scheduled overhaul of No. 2 stationary car dumper; the overhaul was meant to ensure uninterrupted operation of the device. According to the company’s spokesperson, the employees of NSK Novokusnetsk Ltd. and the company’s specialists repaired the mechanical and electrical equipment, the dumper platform, and the header bin hardware. They also replaced worn-out parts such as the feed apron tape, lined the mounting surface, examined the center shaft drive, and assembled new brackets. All operations were completed

The management of Ural Aggregate Mechanical Plant JSC (part of Ivolga Holding Ltd.) located in Emanzhelinsk, Chelyabinsk Region, is considering the option of introducing regular overhauls of agricultural equipment. As the spokesperson for the town administration said to UrBC representative, the plant has already repaired 8 tractors that went to Troitskiy District to be used in sowing. According to Director V. Lenivtsev, these repair orders should revive the company as it currently uses only half of its production capacity.

Ural Fund JSC will hold the general shareholder meeting on May 24, 2006. The points on the agenda include confirmation of the annual accounting report, profit distribution, and amendments to the company’s Charter. Besides, the shareholders will have to elect the Board of Directors, the inspection committee cast, and the company’s Auditor for 2006.

The meeting of UIK-Bank stockholders was held on April 27, 2006. The stockholders heard and approved of the report on the bank’s operations in 2005. The auditor’s opinion prepared by the auditing firm Class-Audit Ltd. was presented to the stockholders. They also approved of the reports of the bank’s inspection commission and of the bank’s internal control department. According to the stockholders’ decision, the profit earned by UIK-Bank Ltd. during 2005 has been transferred to the Production Development Fund.

On April 28, 2006, Board of Directors of Uralsvyazinform JSC defined time and place of the company’s stockholders meeting. The meeting is to be held on June 22, 2006, the company’s PR-department reports. The list of attendees was complied according to the state of events as of May 5, 2006.