By John Helmer in Moscow Igor Zyuzin, the controlling shareholder of the Mechel steel and coal-mining group has disclosed to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that he has pledged as security about 158 million of his shares in the group, in order to secure bank loans now under negotiation. Mechel is the Russian […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
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    By John Helmer in Moscow A briefing by Russian coking coal producer Raspadskaya this week suggests pessimism that sales to the domestic steelmills will recover beyond their current monthly level. For brokers and speculators, the fortunes of the publicly listed mining company (ticker RASP:RU) now depend on betting that China will continuing substituting […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, June 18th, 2009
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    By John Helmer in Moscow Severstal announced Monday that the Russian state savings bank Sberbank has granted it a three-year $300 million credit line. Quoting the chief financial officer, Sergei Kuznetsov, the steelmaker said: “These credit facilities will allow the Company to further strengthen its liquidity and extend maturity profile. Sberbank facility is […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
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by John Helmer in Moscow The attempt last week by Russia’s consumer protection agency to halt all imports of Belarus dairy products on technical labeling grounds has been called off, after an agreement was reached between Moscow and Minsk to impose a quota on imports of dry milk shipments, and increase the tonnage of imported […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow A bid to revive the Russian mine prospects of Toronto-listed Archangel Diamond Corporation (ADC), and head off liquidation by De Beers, failed over the weekend with the disclosure that a US and UK hedge fund operated by Elliott Management Corporation and Elliott Advisors was withdrawing its offer to buy a […]

by John Helmer - Monday, June 15th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’sconsumer protection service has issued a ban on imports of milk and dairy products from Belarus. Although the reason given publicly appears to apply to imports from the Ukraine, Lithuania, and Latvia, their milk trade has so far not been interrupted. This has encouraged speculation that the Kremlin is using […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow The last time Russia took fighting pirates seriously was two centuries ago, when the Empress Catherine the Great, followed byher short-lived successor Tsar Paul I, backed the Knights of Malta, who in turn fought naval engagements with the pirates of Barbary — as the Arab statelets and fortress towns of […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, May 10th, 2009
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by John Helmer - Thursday, March 5th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow In outer space, as everyone knows, the absence of the force of gravity produces the appearance of weightlessness. Everything floats away. The markets have decided that Russia is now without gravity; its equities are without weight, and at risk of floating away. Late last year, the RTS, the principal stock […]

by John Helmer - Friday, January 30th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Once upon a time, in not so ancient Greece, a crooked banker had the idea of hedging the consequences of his crimes by buying a popular newspaper, and also a popular football team. But the risk hedges didn’t work quite as he intended. The banker was indicted and jailed in […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
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