MOSCOW – Beer advertising is pervasive on Russian television, but not because it’s hot weather and Russians are thirsty. President Vladimir Putin has criticized the advertising, chiding media officials, including the press minister, for promoting profits ahead of health and physical fitness. The point he didn’t make is that, in Russia, the alternative to beer […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, August 21st, 2002
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MOSCOW – Among courtiers, courage of conviction is rarely a qualification for the job. It can, however, help in dealing with insults, the occupational hazard that comes with paying court to most sovereigns. By this standard, Dmitri Kozak, deputy head of President Vladimir Putin’s administration, is no Vauban Le Prestre, Marshal of France at the […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, August 15th, 2002
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It’s no tragedy, and it cannot be. That’s what Russian government officials said in mid-1999 when, over the strenuous objections of a majority of its steelmakers, Russia agreed to a U.S. ultimatum and signed an agreement to limit Russian steel exports to the United States. That year started with an attempt by U.S. trade negotiators […]

by John Helmer - Saturday, August 3rd, 2002
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In Russia, the village folk say that even a blind horse can pull a cart, if he is led. In the case of Russia’s state insurer Rosgosstrakh, it is easy to see that the horse is being led in a circle; more difficult is to identify who has his hands on the bridle. After selling […]

by John Helmer - Friday, August 2nd, 2002
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There is no better test of the maxim that absolute power corrupts absolutely than Russia’s Finance Ministry. Take the silver tax of May 1999, for example, and its predecessor in absolute folly, the silver edict of France’s King Louis XIV of May 1709. At that time, Louis’ treasury was empty and his armies and administration […]

by John Helmer - Saturday, July 27th, 2002
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When it comes to evasion, Alexei Kudrin, deputy prime minister in charge of the diamond sector, could take a lesson from the French bard, Jean Racine. According to the tale told by Madame de Sieving, Louis XIV once appointed Racine as his royal historian, only to rebuke him for failing to do enough to learn […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 26th, 2002
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There are 72 regional electricity-producing utility companies – energos, for short – in the state-controlled holding known as Unified Energy Systems (UES), run by Anatoly Chubais. None in Russia can be confident in predicting the outcome of the so-called reform of the power sector, except that Chubais and the government say they are committed to […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, July 7th, 2002
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In nautical circles it has always been said that rats leave a sinking ship. On pirate vessels, however, the custom was to make the better type of crewman walk the plank. At the Ministry of Finance under Alexei Kudrin, there is no sign whatsoever of a sinking feeling. The ministry’s man now runs the Central […]

by John Helmer - Saturday, July 6th, 2002
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The World Bank in Russia is a long-running soap opera full of starlets demanding astronomical fees for playing scenes charged with intimate advice and suspenseful mistakes that keep the plot alive, episode after episode. When we last tuned in, a year ago in May, the Bank had just engaged Anders Aslund, the paid Romeo of […]

by John Helmer - Monday, July 1st, 2002
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MOSCOW – “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose” – the more things change, the more they stay the same. After Russian President Vladimir Putin attempted to make the most of two summit meetings in a week with European leaders, it’s time to remember the dictum coined by Frenchman Alphonse Karr more than a […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, June 4th, 2002
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