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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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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By John Helmer in Moscow Russian dockers at St Petersburg and Tuapse are threatening to strike unless the stevedore and port companies employing them accept inflation indexation of their salaries, which is provided by Russia’s labour law, but is not included in their current work contracts. The threat is aimed at Russia’s richest individual, the […]

by John Helmer - Friday, June 11th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow The treasure cave which the legendary Ali Baba found is not known to have had a back-door. Otherwise, when it happened that Ali’s greedy brother Qassim forgot the ‘Open Sesame!’ for the entrance, he’d have been able to safely escape the arrival of the forty thieves. Instead, Qassim was discovered, […]

by John Helmer - Friday, June 11th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow On Thursday evening in Conakry, the capital of the west African republic of Guinea, presidential advisor Mamadou Conde was dismissed, after he was found to have been involved in a plan to sign over bauxite concession rights to the Russian aluminium monopoly Rusal, and arrange for acting Guinean President Sekouba […]

by John Helmer - Friday, June 11th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Sergei Pugachev, the owner of Northern Shipyard and Baltic Plant, two leading St. Petersburg yards, is closing a deal to sell the properties to the state, following pressure from creditors on Pugachev’s holding, United Industrial Corporation (OPB), and its associated bank, International Industrial Bank (IIB).

by John Helmer - Thursday, June 10th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow In cockfighting there is a hard and fast rule – if your bird won’t fight, no matter how hard you push it, you forfeit the contest, and bets on the other bird must be paid. When it comes to fighting and hiding, Alexei Mordashov, the Russian steelmaker, appears to have […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, June 8th, 2010
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The Moscow police disclosed this week that they have decided not to investigate Alfa-Inform, a Moscow security agency, after an individual describing himself as an employee of the company made a telephone threat to put John Helmer in a wheel-chair unless he removed documents relating to Alfa-Inform and Rusal from this website.

by John Helmer - Monday, June 7th, 2010
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