By John Helmer in Moscow A fresh bid has been launched in the United States to prevent De Beers from liquidating its Russian affiliate, Archangel Diamond Corporation (ADC), and calling off legal proceedings in Denver, Colorado, and in Stockholm to recover ADC’s mining right from two Russian companies charged with fraudulently expropriating it. Also exposed […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow South of the Sahara desert, the Kremlin doesn’t have a strategy so much as a checklist of commercial interests. These days it can ill afford even those. But when it was decided in the spring that President Dmitry Medvedev would make his first presidential visit to the region, he was […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
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    By John Helmer in Moscow The grain trade war between Moscow and Cairo took a fresh twist this week, following the announcement during President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Egypt on Tuesday that the two governments have agreed on terms for direct, large-volume shipments. A Russian government briefer has claimed that Medvedev agreed with […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, June 25th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow The Mechel steel and mining group — Russia’s largest producer of stainless steel and coking coal — is the only Russian metals and mining company to submit to the regulatory requirements of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). That began in 2004, when Mechel, then owned by Igor Zyuzin […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, June 25th, 2009
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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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