By John Helmer in Moscow President Dmitry Medvedev is lying when he claims that his modernization slogan, under which he is running for re-appointment by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, means free and fair competition; security for foreign investment; and private ownership in place of state control. I mean lying, as in lying on the fakir’s […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
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The Harmonics Vuvuzela for the season’s purest noise goes to Maxim Fedotov, who led the Moscow City Symphony Orchestra on June 16 in performances that included Ravel’s Bolero. Fedotov placed a snare drum at the front of the stage, and assigned the drummer the virtuoso noise-making part, obliging the rest of the sound-makers gathered behind […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Alrosa’s chief executive Fyodor Andreyev (right image) briefed Moscow investment banks last week on the company’s strategy in an attempt to raise demand for a domestic bond issue, to be followed by a eurobond issue in November. Alrosa’s target for the two issues is $1.84 billion.

by John Helmer - Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
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  By John Helmer in Moscow In the milk business, sanctimoniousness can induce more nausea than salmonella. President Dmitry Medvedev big-noted his re-election campaign with a speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday with this seeming call for competition to stimulate economic growth. “No matter how many state-owned enterprises we might have,” […]

by John Helmer - Monday, June 21st, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Roughly one rouble in every three spent from the Russian state budget goes out the treasury door in the form of a procurement contract. According to the statute which regulates this process – Federal Law No. 94-FZ, “On Procurement of Goods, Works and Services for State and Municipal Needs”, enacted […]

by John Helmer - Friday, June 18th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow It’s tough being the greatest legal reformer ever to occupy the Kremlin because none of the tsars who preceded Dmitry Medvedev had a university degree in jurisprudence. Mikhail Gorbachev might be considered a close runner, because he received his law degree from Moscow State University in 1955. But then Medvedev […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, June 17th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow The dispute that has haunted Evraz’s operation of the Czech steelmill at Vitkovice since 2005 when the Russian group won a disputed privatization tender for the plant, has escalated this week into a threat of closure. It is the second time the Evraz management in Moscow has issued a closure […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, June 17th, 2010
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Moscow, 15 June 2010 – UC RUSAL (SEHK: 486, EuroNext: RUSAL/RUAL), the world’s largest aluminium producer, announces the visit of a UC RUSAL delegation headed by Oleg Deripaska, CEO of UC RUSAL, to Guinea. Within the framework of the visit the company and the government of the country reached several agreements.

by Editor - Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s deputy prime minister in charge of ports and shipping, Igor Sechin (image of Paris, centre), told Fairplay today he believes the best replacement for the storm-damaged Sochi cargo port is Kavkaz, on the Kerch Strait. Sechin confirmed that last week in Turkey he had spoken in favour of a […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russian public companies are special, and public shareholders are the last to know. But when Suleiman Kerimov is engaged in a deal, you can be certain of knowing one thing — nothing is what it seems. The brokerages egging the market on today to buy Uralkali shares at a premium, […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
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