By John Helmer, Moscow

In Abakan at this time of year the sun doesn’t rise until 10 in the morning, and by 5 it’s too dark to see much. It’s always been this way in the days which follow Kreshenskiy Moroz (the Feast of the Epiphany, old calendar).

This week in the capital of the central Siberian region of Khakassia, the forecast is for a low of -37 C. and a high of – 14 C. The windchill is -25 C. On January 31, 2005, the mean temperature during the day was -28 C, reaching -34 C after the sun went down at 5:33 pm.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow

The state-owned maritime conglomerate, United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), will acquire the Vyborg Shipyard, on the Gulf of Finland near St. Petersburg, the USC spokesman Alexei Kravchenko confirmed to Fairplay in Moscow on Friday.
(more…)

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

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 reports, Sechin has ordered the government agencies supervising the steel sector, including the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), the Federal Environment Protection Agency (Rosprirodnadzor), and the Federal Agency for Ecological, Technical and Nuclear Supervision (Rostekhnadzor), to devise new regulations to require the steelmakers to commit to a minimum level of capital expenditure for modernization of their production; to fund part of that out of their profits; and to receive in return tax and loan concessions. Among the objectives Sechin’s instruction reportedly cites is “reducing the environmental impact and increase competitiveness of Russian products.”
(more…)

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

By John Helmer, Moscow

“Russia’s federal security service, the successor to the KGB, has launched a cold-war style attack on non-governmental organisations and human rights groups, linking them with alleged espionage by British diplomats in Moscow.The accusations against the British diplomats come within weeks of Russia assuming the presidency of G8 from Britain and just days before a meeting of finance ministers in Moscow which will be attended by Gordon Brown, the UK chancellor…

The FSB on Monday confirmed claims made in a state television programme that it had uncovered a James Bond-style spying operation involving four British diplomats using a transmitter hidden in a fake rock on a Moscow street to gather information.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Thursday, January 19th, 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 they aren’t.
(more…)

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

By John Helmer, Moscow

Archangel Diamond Corporation (ADC) has this month renewed its battle against LUKoil for the latter’s alleged theft of multi-billion diamond mining rights at the Verkhotina deposit in the Arkhangelsk region of northwestern Russia. The new claims were lodged in the US District Court in the District of Colorado on January 6. Lead lawyers for ADC are the US-Russian law firm, Marks & Sokolov.

The case has been in the US and Swedish courts for more than a decade; in 2010 ADC’s failure to recover its 40% stake in the project and enforce its joint-venture agreement to mine the diamonds resulted in the company’s bankruptcy. What remains of ADC is a liquidation trust, based in Colorado, where ADC once had its headquarters for the Russian mining project. LUKoil operations in Colorado have also been documented in the court submissions in order for ADC’s applications to the courts in that state to be allowed to go to trial.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Tuesday, January 17th, 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. But prying open the intentions of such people for investigation, prosecution, or accountability at election time isn’t easy. Policemen don’t like the job; accountants go shy of it; newspaper reporters may relish it, but lack the means.
(more…)

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

By John Helmer, Moscow

In this thriller the evil genius (EG) is, for once, not a Russian oligarch, Kremlin grandee, Russian computer hacker – not even a Moscow muzhik trained to use Facebook and Twitter to make or join flash mobs.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Sunday, January 15th, 2012
No Comments »

by John Helmer - Sunday, January 15th, 2012
No Comments »

My beloved Russian died on December 9. When he needed breath and his heart was failing, there were five who prevented me from reaching him. I grieve for him. For them, another reckoning.

If you will take to the mountain road, it is possible to breathe and sing this song.
(more…)

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