By John Helmer, Moscow Russian steel companies have been ordered by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin to clean up their emissions, and pay for it out of their owners’ profit stream and dividends. If they agree, he is promising to provide tax and other offsets for their balance-sheets. Is he kidding? According to the press […]

by John Helmer - Monday, January 23rd, 2012
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow In the final summing-up of Boris Berezovsky’s case for several billion dollars in stolen goods against Roman Abramovich, the name of Vladimir Putin turns up just four times. The four mentions by Berezovsky’s counsel, Laurence Rabinowitz, during his two-day court presentation on January 17 and 18, are more noteworthy for what […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, January 19th, 2012
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow Turning modestly paid public office into extravagant personal wealth isn’t provably criminal, particularly not if there’s a decent interval of time between performing the first and scoring the second. It may be indecent for elected politicians or officials on the taxpayer’s payroll to intend to turn the one into the other. […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow Nathaniel Rothschild’s (centre) libel lawsuit against the Daily Mail and Associated Newspapers, due to commence on January 23 in the High Court in London, is now unravelling even more Russian oligarch secrets. As they crack open, so do suspicions of even more inexplicable involvement by Rothschild’s friend, Lord Peter Mandelson, than […]

by John Helmer - Friday, December 30th, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow Constructivism, that combination of industrial design ideas applied to post-revolutionary Russian urban growth requirements, has been struggling to survive the assault of commercial real estate development since 1991. The current exhibition at London’s Royal Academy of Art, entitled “Building the Revolution” reveals how many of the buildings of the Constructivist era […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, December 25th, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow In the interior designer trade, there is a standard known inside Russia and the world over as the vomit test. The World of Interiors usually passes; Architectural Digest often fails. This isn’t what it sounds like – no disparagement intended of the design or designer as such. No Sirree. The test […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow After claims a week ago that the Daily Mail newspaper and its publisher were expecting to go to trial next month on a libel claim by Nathaniel Rothschild relating to the Russian aluminium business, it has now been revealed that Rothschild has exposed an even more secret business deal he was […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow Nathaniel Rothschild (right, pointing) has told the UK High Court that a London newspaper report claiming he had tried ingratiating himself with Oleg Deripaska (centre) was defamatory, and that as a result of the publication he had been “seriously damaged in his character and reputation and has suffered considerable distress, embarrassment […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, December 18th, 2011
No Comments »

Э.Мацкявичюс: Владимир Владимирович, есть вопрос, поступивший на сайт программы, он, отчасти, продолжает тему, поднятую Александром Андреевичем: “Читаю сообщение о суде в Лондоне и думаю, когда украденные у народа деньги перестанут обогащать Англию?” Я точно не поручусь, но, видимо, имеется в виду суд между Абрамовичем и Березовским.

by John Helmer - Friday, December 16th, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow Russia’s competition watchdog believes that a merger between two of the country’s top steelmakers, Evraz and Severstal, is a “pipe dream”, and will veto it if it is attempted. The swift, explicit reaction from one of the Russian government’s top market regulators indicates there has been no preliminary signal from the […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
No Comments »