By John Helmer, Moscow Oleg Deripaska (right), the chief executive of United Company Rusal, not only persuaded Muammar Qaddafi and his son, Saif al-Qaddafi (left), to invest in Rusal shares to support the company’s listing in Hong Kong last year. It now appears the Libyans also bought a stake in Norilsk Nickel to assist Deripaska […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, May 26th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Alrosa’s chief executive Fyodor Andreyev has announced that the state-owned diamond monopoly of Russia holds diamond reserves of 1.23 billion carats. Calculated according to the Russian mineral reserves classification, he said that 1.014 billion carats are proven, 211 million carats are probable. The new numbers were mentioned in a briefing for […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, May 25th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Suleiman Kerimov has applied to the Prosecutor-General in Moscow with a request for an investigation of allegations that he was at one time involved in money-moving operations of Hassan Ali Khan, an Indian hawaladar. Breaking the silence of his spokesmen at the Federation Council, where Kerimov is a senator representing his […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow It is quite legal to play lowball, the variant of poker in which the lowest value of the cards you hold in your hand wins over higher values in the hands of the other players. It is less legal in the retail market if a sale is offered at a lower […]

by John Helmer - Monday, May 23rd, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Dominique Strauss-Kahn — the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and if he is acquitted on sex crime charges, the front-runner to be the next President of France — has yet to speak in his defence, and respond to the indictment lodged in Manhattan Criminal Court last week.

by John Helmer - Sunday, May 22nd, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow It was just five weeks ago that First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov was pledging his allegiance to President Dmitry Medvedev and his unswerving compliance with the April 2 presidential decree ordering ministers of state to vacate their seats on state company boards. In Shuvalov’s case, he insisted that under no […]

by John Helmer - Friday, May 20th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Far Eastern Shipping Co (FESCO), the troubled Russian dry-cargo fleet and ports group owned by Sergei Generalov, broke even on its operations last year, according to international-standard accounts for 2010, just released in Moscow. But Generalov was unable to stop the rot in his fleet arm, and only by radical amputation […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, May 19th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Over the weekend, Ukrainian reports indicated that the Donetsk steelmaking assets in Ukraine, which went into bankruptcy in 2009, have been bought by Russia’s Mechel group, owned by Igor Zyuzin. The deal cost is reported to have been $537 million, including assumption of debts. Confirmation of the sale appears in publication […]

by John Helmer - Monday, May 16th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow The International Monetary Fund (IMF) often invoked its sovereign immunity to rape Russia’s governing institutions, including the Central Bank and the Supreme Soviet, in the years of collapse following the end of the Soviet Union. Michel Camdessus, a Frenchman, was the culprit then, instructed by the principal shareholders on the Fund […]

by John Helmer - Monday, May 16th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Vladimir Lisin (far right), owner of Russia’s powerful Novolipetsk steelmaking group and one of the country’s richest men, is the choice of Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin (3rd from left) for new board chairman of the state shipyard conglomerate, United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC).

by John Helmer - Friday, May 13th, 2011
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