By John Helmer, Moscow After the report appearing yesterday on Rusal’s negotiations with the Government of Guinea was published, the following fresh information was communicated by a member of staff of President Alpha Conde, and confirmed by other Guinean sources.

by John Helmer - Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow If Yandex, Russia’s leading search engine and internet portal, tells potential share buyers and investors that it is at risk of a hostile takeover by a man like Alisher Usmanov, who owns a stake in the competing Mail.ru portal, then the charge is a serious one. And if to that, Yandex […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, May 4th, 2011
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Vladimir Putin: Ladies and gentlemen, As you know, yesterday I delivered a report on the government’s performance in the State Duma. I spoke not only about our performance, however; in point of fact, I spoke about the results of our common endeavour because the government only organises the work of the social sectors and the […]

by John Helmer - Monday, April 25th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Indirectly but without ambiguity, Alisher Usmanov acknowledged for the first time on Tuesday, in a Moscow newspaper he owns, that he has failed to sell shares in his principal asset, the Metalloinvest iron-ore mining and steelmaking group, to anyone. His recourse, he also made clear, is to hold hands with Oleg […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, April 20th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Euroset, the Russian mobile telephone company, failed at its attempt at its initial public offering (IPO) in London this week. Officially, the company is struggling to absorb the punch, and is blaming the markets, not itself. “Despite the fact that in the investment community there was an increased interest in Euroset,” […]

by John Helmer - Friday, April 15th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow To modernize, privatize, incentivize, and win the votes of Russians yearning to be free, President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the senior ministers of the federal government to vacate their seats on the boards of state companies. First to go – on his own resignation, eleven weeks ahead of deadline – is […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, April 14th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Elena Baturina won an unusual battle against Rupert Murdoch’s journalism last week. It is yet another demonstration that when it comes to dispensing Russian justice, the London courts are the only ones who do. The court case, decided by a three-judge panel of the UK Court of Appeal on March 23, […]

by John Helmer - Monday, March 28th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Russians have always appreciated a good strong watch, and until the collapse of the Soviet Union the domestic watch industry competed effectively against most foreign brands. But the past two decades have almost destroyed the value Russians themselves attribute to such domestic watch brand-names as Polyot and Vostok. The conspicuous display […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, March 16th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow United Company Rusal has triggered three recent pollution crises in Ukraine, Russia and Guinea, and in the latest one, frozen red dust from alumina refining operations at the Ukrainian city of Nikolaev coated a five square kilometre area last week, making it look to residents like a Martian landscape.

by John Helmer - Friday, March 4th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Data: The latest report from Emerging Portfolio Fund Research (EPFR) of Boston shows that funds investing in Russian listed stocks reported net inflows for the week ending March 2. The total invested was $139 million. The last time I reported on the funds flow was a fortnight ago, when the Financial […]

by John Helmer - Friday, March 4th, 2011
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