By John Helmer, Moscow Prime Minister Vladimir Putin recently conceded that the oligarchs who were running Russia behind the shaking hand and raddled brain of Boris Yeltsin had caused such chaos, Putin was obliged to use what he called “manual control” to recover the country. The evidence given last week in the UK High Court […]

by John Helmer - Monday, November 21st, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow Oleg Deripaska has made his debut in the witness-box of the UK High Court, testifying for almost three hours on Friday afternoon, after being called as a witness by Roman Abramovich against the claims of Boris Berezovsky. So precise and painstaking were Deripaska’s responses to some of the questions asked by […]

by John Helmer - Friday, November 18th, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow At a time when mass protests against the greed and criminality of bankers have spread from from the US to Greece, Italy and the UK, and on across the world, the London Daily Telegraph headline, “Financiers are being forced out of Russia”, might be widely applauded by a certain section of […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, November 16th, 2011
No Comments »

Q [Laurence Rabinowitz for Boris Berezovsky] Mr Abramovich, in the course of that answer you said when you visited him — talking about Mr Patarkatsishvili — in February [2003], you told him that you were selling [Rusal] because Oleg [Deripaska] was trying to squeeze you out. Is that now your evidence?

by John Helmer - Monday, November 14th, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow An unusual moment occurred on Wednesday this week in Roman Abramovich’s testimony in the UK High Court when he refers to the seigneurial right – that historically doubtful power a feudal lord claimed for first sex with young virgins on his estates, who were, by feudal law, his property. Abramovich says: […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, November 10th, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow Charlie Drake’s hit song has been celebrating its fiftieth anniversary in London, where it was created and first recorded, not far from the law courts on the Strand. Play it before you read another word, and listen carefully to the lyrics.

by John Helmer - Tuesday, November 8th, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow One of Russia’s richest men, and by some accounts one of the cleverest, claims he has no idea whether the principal source of his income is taxed. The admission came just a few minutes after three in the afternoon in London last Friday. Roman Abramovich may have been tired, having been […]

by John Helmer - Monday, November 7th, 2011
No Comments »

For readers who have been experiencing interruptions of internet connexion and seeing instead notices of 404 error, the explanation is a series of denial-of-service (DOS) attacks launched against this website in an attempt to stop publication. Technical evidence reveals that the attacker began bombarding the website server about 20 minutes after a story was published […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, November 6th, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow You need to know that a conflict of interest is the first step on the road to corruption. If you don’t; and if you also think that unzipping your fly in public isn’t indecent exposure, so long as you think the onlookers will be impressed by what you’re showing off, there’s […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, October 30th, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow There is every reason to read and reread the Tintin books by Hergé, and even more for boycotting the film just released by Steven Spielberg. The essay by Tom McCarthy is one of a hattrick by the London Guardian to rubbish what Spielberg has done.

by John Helmer - Sunday, October 30th, 2011
No Comments »