By John Helmer, Moscow

President Boris Yeltsin presided over the greatest slaughter of Russian livestock since Adolf Hitler crossed the Soviet frontier in the summer of 1941. In the five years between 1992 and 1997 19.6 million head of cattle were killed. That compares with 2 million killed during Hitler’s initial invasion, and 16.6 million culled during Stalin’s collectivization experiments in the decade before the war.

Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) was another of Yeltsin’s ideas – and with much the same purpose. If implemented, that idea would make Russia dependent on imports of foodstuffs and just about everything else the exporting countries would like to sell against their Russian rivals, after the latter were to give up their competitive price advantages, such as cheap energy, cheap land, cheap transportation, cheap fertilizer, etc. So, if Russia were a democracy, the WTO terms of accession for Russia – now 18 years in the negotiation – wouldn’t have a chance of acceptance.
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by John Helmer - Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow

Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine (MMK), owned by Victor Rashnikov (left image), released its second-quarter operational report today, several days behind schedule. The report confirms the Russia-wide trend, already reported here, of cutbacks by the steelmaker for most types of its domestic production.

The news may be awkward for Rashnikov, because a fortnight ago he assured Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that he was producing more steel, especially auto steel sheet, to feed growing Russian demand; because the only obvious sign of growth in production at Rashnikov’s enterprises is not at home in Russia, but across the water in Turkey; and finally, because Rashnikov’s balance-sheet is going to show that he’s making more profit on less production by driving Russian steel prices upward.
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by John Helmer - Friday, July 29th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow

Alrosa, Russia’s near-monopoly diamond miner, is for the third year running the world’s largest diamond miner.

The good news appears in a brief summary report issued by the company this week. Production by Alrosa in the six months to June 30, this year, comes to 19 million carats. That compares with 15.5 million carats attributed from De Beers; 5.2 million carats from Rio Tinto; and just 1.1 million carats from BHP Billiton. De Beers managed to stay even with its mine result for the same period in 2010, but Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton are reporting that their mine results are dwindling. On the face of it, Alrosa is not only producing 8% more diamonds by volume this year, compared to 2010; it is also widening its lead over its international rivals.
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by John Helmer - Friday, July 29th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow

It’s almost August, the month when everyone knows that serious coincidences can happen in Russia – and I’m not talking about the lunar cycle or Ramadan.

In election years, the prevention of coincidences has always been Kremlin Priority Number-One. This year that’s tempered by President Dmitry Medvedev’s concern that nothing coincidental happens to his re-election campaign. And in Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s White House, it is plain that reassuring Russian workers of their job security and income against negative coincidence is also a priority effort.
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by John Helmer - Thursday, July 28th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow

Faced with a Bulgarian government-ordered shutdown of its Burgas oil refinery, LUKoil, the Russian oil producer and exporter, began emergency negotiations with Bulgarian officials this morning, a LUKoil source told Fairplay. Bulgarian opposition politicians say the negotiations are being staged by Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov (image right) to protect his party and himself from voter wrath, as petrol prices continue upwards and the Bulgarian presidential election approaches its due date on October 23.

The Bulgarian Customs agency triggered today’s negotiations by revoking the Burgas refinery’s license to sell and buy crude oil products. The published reason is that LUKoil did not instal the meters required by the Customs to measure the crude and product flows to and from the refinery, and verify the product taxes it should collect.
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by John Helmer - Thursday, July 28th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow

On February 1, 2010, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a report on operational results for the previous year, 2009, of the Mechel steel and mining group, Russia’s fifth-ranked steelmaker, which is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The group is owned by Igor Zyuzin (image, centre) with 66.8% of the shares; and at the time of the SEC filing, he was the group chief executive officer. He also signed the disclosure.
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by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 27th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow

The fight by China Inc. to keep control over the flow and price of manganese into Chinese refineries, and out of the hands of pesky international shareholders, has moved into Round-3 after Rounds 1 and 2 turned into bruising knockdowns.

OM Holdings (OMH) — a Singapore-based manganese miner and metals refiner with mainland Chinese control shareholders — faces a new challenge from minority Australian and Singaporean shareholders, who formally announced today their call for an emergency general meeting (EGM) and the election of a new board of directors. A shareholder meeting and vote should be called by August 15 in Singapore.
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by John Helmer - Monday, July 25th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow

In the finale of the film Casablanca, the Humphrey Bogart character has shot the German officer to enable his ex-lover Ilsa and her husband, a Resistance man on the run, to make good their escape. Captain Renault sees an opportunity to do the right thing for a change, protecting Bogey and his friends. He orders the subaltern off to “round up the usual suspects.” Ilsa flies away, and Renault and Bogey walk into the fog, heading south for Brazzaville, in the Congo.
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by John Helmer - Sunday, July 24th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow

Russia, it turns out, has the only government in the world able and willing to do real damage to Rupert Murdoch – and throw him out.

While the UK and US governments hold their breaths as squads of policemen poke through the Murdoch media files to find evidence of corrupt entertainments and backdoor understandings with powerful politicians – some of them still hanging on to power — the Russian state bank VTB has put together a consortium and obliged Murdoch to accept $270 million for his 79% control stake in the outdoor advertising company, News Outdoor Russia.
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by John Helmer - Friday, July 22nd, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow

Far Eastern Shipping Company (Fesco), owned by Sergei Generalov, announced yesterday it has acquired MetizTrans, a small railcar operator in eastern Siberia. No value for the transaction was disclosed; MetizTrans owns 971 railcars, used mostly for delivering Russian coal to Sea of Japan ports for export.

The announced purchase makes a small increment to Fesco’s railcar fleet of 19,000 units, according to a Fesco release. “We believe the acquisition … will further boost our presence in rail transportation in these regions”, Fesco quotes Alexey Grom, its Vice-President for Rail, as saying.
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by John Helmer - Thursday, July 21st, 2011
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