by John Helmer - Wednesday, August 31st, 2011
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  Marshal Sergei Fyodorovich Akhromeyev   “Everything I have worked for throughout my life is being destroyed.”   — August 24, 1991

by John Helmer - Wednesday, August 31st, 2011
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Soooo! much choice

by John Helmer - Friday, August 5th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow One thing isn’t clear about this story, and that’s whether the dog is old, and the trick is new, or vice versa. Another thing isn’t clear – and that’s whether there are any dogs at all in this story, from the point of view of a public prosecutor. The tale concerns […]

by John Helmer - Friday, August 5th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Among the Russian steel oligarchs, none is better educated in his specialty than Vladimir Lisin, who wrote his PhD thesis on metallurgical engineering and another doctoral thesis for a DSc in economics. But you don’t have to put that much study under your belt to understand how an electric arc furnace […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow President Boris Yeltsin presided over the greatest slaughter of Russian livestock since Adolf Hitler crossed the Soviet frontier in the summer of 1941. In the five years between 1992 and 1997 19.6 million head of cattle were killed. That compares with 2 million killed during Hitler’s initial invasion, and 16.6 million […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine (MMK), owned by Victor Rashnikov (left image), released its second-quarter operational report today, several days behind schedule. The report confirms the Russia-wide trend, already reported here, of cutbacks by the steelmaker for most types of its domestic production. The news may be awkward for Rashnikov, because a fortnight […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 29th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Alrosa, Russia’s near-monopoly diamond miner, is for the third year running the world’s largest diamond miner. The good news appears in a brief summary report issued by the company this week. Production by Alrosa in the six months to June 30, this year, comes to 19 million carats. That compares with […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 29th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow It’s almost August, the month when everyone knows that serious coincidences can happen in Russia – and I’m not talking about the lunar cycle or Ramadan. In election years, the prevention of coincidences has always been Kremlin Priority Number-One. This year that’s tempered by President Dmitry Medvedev’s concern that nothing coincidental […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 28th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Faced with a Bulgarian government-ordered shutdown of its Burgas oil refinery, LUKoil, the Russian oil producer and exporter, began emergency negotiations with Bulgarian officials this morning, a LUKoil source told Fairplay. Bulgarian opposition politicians say the negotiations are being staged by Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov (image right) to protect his […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 28th, 2011
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