- Print This Post Print This Post

By John Helmer, Moscow Reporters rove, so did Lord Byron, the 19th  century English poet.

- Print This Post Print This Post

By John Helmer, Moscow If it’s true, as folk say, that you can’t keep a good man down, are crooked men equally irrepressible? The case of Ziyavudin Magomedov (lead image, right) —  plaintiff in New York State Supreme Court;  in prison on remand and a defendant in Moscow city court — is an example of […]

- Print This Post Print This Post

By John Helmer, Moscow In the Polish capital of Warsaw a fortnight ago, Igor Kolomoisky met secretly with Yulia Tymoshenko. The reason for the secrecy is the terms of exchange which they discussed. These include Tymoshenko’s agreement that if she is elected president in Kiev in eight months’ time with Kolomoisky’s support, he will get […]

- Print This Post Print This Post

By John Helmer, Moscow When it comes to support for President Vladimir Putin’s international positions, the South African (SA) Government has been among the most consistent and enthusiastic of any in the world. However, Russian policy in South Africa has been damaged by the behaviour of Russian oligarchs and state businesses implicated in the corrupt […]

- Print This Post Print This Post

By John Helmer, Moscow President Vladimir Putin (lead image, left) has announced a new policy of withdrawal from eastern Ukraine under cover of a referendum to confirm the sovereignty of Kiev. No, hold it. Putin has announced an old policy in a new way in the English-language press.   No, no – an old policy, […]

- Print This Post Print This Post

By John Helmer, Moscow Mother Nature, Greenpeace  and the National Geographic Magazine believe that killer whales  (lead image, left) are predators of the sea who have been misnamed. They are dolphins who kill whales (also seals, sea lions, sharks, and occasionally, when they get upset, a zoo-keeper). In Chelyabinsk, environment investigators  and city residents  believe […]

- Print This Post Print This Post

By John Helmer, Moscow In the armchair warrior’s version of game theory played with and without nuclear weapons, there’s a special place for the calculation of strategic deterrence that’s called tit for tat. President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump agreed between themselves that in the tit-for-tat game between the Kremlin and the White House, […]

- Print This Post Print This Post

By Eric van de Beek and Max van der Werff, Amsterdam* Max, a year ago we looked back extensively on three years of MH17. Which are for you the most important events and developments over the past year? Without any doubt the liability of the Russian Federation claimed by the Netherlands and Australia and then […]

- Print This Post Print This Post

By John Helmer, Moscow President Vladimir Putin’s side of the brunch table at the Helsinki summit almost matched President Donald Trump’s side. Seven sets of knives, forks and spoons;  six officials, one interpreter, matching lieutenant-generals. The odd man out — that’s to say in — was Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman. Peskov’s White House counterpart, […]

- Print This Post Print This Post

By John Helmer, Moscow Robert Mueller (lead image), the special US prosecutor of crimes of espionage between Moscow and Washington, picked July 13 to issue his indictment of twelve alleged Russian military intelligence officers for doing their jobs on evidence collected by US intelligence officers doing their jobs. The Russian crime alleged by Mueller in […]