Digital Sky Technologies buys ICQ

‘The current laws that regulate the security agencies’ activity in Russia are really out of date and need to be replaced. However, the proposed changes meet neither these agencies’ needs nor the dictates of the time,’ says Oleg Borisov, General Director of Europe-Asia Information and Consulting Center, President of Ural Center of Nongovernmental Security Institutions Association, and member of the Academy of Security, Defense and Law-and-Order. Borisov comments upon the legislation enforced in February 2009: ‘As a matter of fact, the new law limits the private security agencies’ options and

‘About 14,000 people are going to get released from Sverdlovsk Region’s prisons this year; most of these people got some rather long prison terms back in the mid-nineties. Setting free the people who had been sentenced for felonies and capital offenses en masse is bound to put the population’s safety in jeopardy. There are two kinds of convicts imprisoned in the nineties, actually, and each of the two kinds stands for specific kinds of risks,’ says Europe-Asia Information and Consulting Center’s GD Oleg Borisov ‘The first category comprises the members of organized crime groups. Some people

Ural Airlines came up with a performance report for January-July 2008 and for the seventh month of the year. The airline’s aircraft operated 7,091 flights between January 1, 2008 and July 31, 2008, which was 16% better than a year earlier; the figures include 2,286 international flights (57% more than in January-July 2007), 4,115 domestic flights (1% more than in January-July 2007), and 616 flights within the CIS (27% more than in January-July 2007). 1,352 flights were operated by the company in July 2008 (which was 9% better than a year earlier), including 551 international flights, 676

Evraz Group might stop the steel production process at its Czech plant Vitkovice Steel on July 1, 2010. Evraz cannot seem to reach an agreement with ArcelorMittal Ostrava on crude iron prices, and crude iron is the primary raw material for steel production, Evraz representative explained to Kommersant. In case the parties fail to come to a compromise before July, the Vitkovice-based plant will stop buying iron and manufacturing steel. At the same time, Vitkovice Steel will keep up with its rolled goods production. Evraz Group bought Evraz Vitkovice Steel in 2005. The plant currently produces

Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court is now considering the claim laid by Global Gaming Expo (GGE) against Bank24.ru, Kommersant reports. GGE insists on being paid 186 million RUR that the bank allegedly obtained through unjust enrichment. The plaintiff claims the defendant wrote off the sum off GGE’s accounts illegally, which made it impossible for the plaintiff to pay its customers (who gave their savings into GGE’s trust management). Meanwhile, Bank24.ru insists that the sum was written off upon GGE’s request. According to Kommersant, GGE, founded by a Yekaterinburg businessman Alexei