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By John Helmer, Moscow

No major shareholder obstacles now stand in the way of the reorganization of Alrosa’s corporate structure, but conversion to the open shareholding company format will take another six months, company spokesman Andrei Polyakov told Polishedprices.com today.
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By John Helmer, Moscow

In Oleg Deripaska’s short career history, his Russian partners don’t last for long.

The record for sufferance is held by Mikhail Chernoy (Michael Cherney), whose agreement to lend Deripaska money and grant him trustee rights over Chernoy’s 13% shareholding in United Company Rusal lasted for more than five years – between 2001 and 2006 – before Chernoy concluded that Deripaska was cheating him, and opened contract enforcement and recovery proceedings in the UK High Court.
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By John Helmer, Moscow

The Prime Minister has asked Russians to send him their choices of a name for a young Bulgarian shepherd dog, which was presented to him by the dog fancier, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, when the two met in Sofia on November 13.
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By John Helmer, Moscow

Not since Raisa Gorbacheva revealed that she knew how to use a credit card for shopping and displayed the PhD she had bought, I mean earned, has the wife of a Russian head of state attracted such a display of petit bourgeois chagrin.
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By John Helmer, Moscow

The 421-page ruling of UK High Court Justice Andrew Smith, issued on Friday in London, dismisses all charges and claims pursued for the past five years against Dmitry Skarga, former chief executive of Sovcomflot, and Tagir Izmaylov, his counterpart at Novorossiysk Shipping Company (Novoship). The consequences are dramatic for the Russian government. The judgement makes impossible the public listing of Sovcomflot shares in any international market because of the evidence disclosed that the company lies to its auditors, falsifies financial records, encourages perjury, and knowingly engages corrupt officials for the purpose of fabricating schemes of personal vengeance and wrongful enrichment.
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By John Helmer, Moscow

The UK High Court ruled this morning in London that the half-billion dollar fraud claim pursued by state shipping company Sovcomflot and its chief executive Sergei Frank was based on fabrications and lies. Frank was condemned in the ruling, and his witnesses dismissed as dishonest. Former Sovcomflot chief executive Dmitry Skarga and former chartering partner Yury Nikitin, have been vindicated in the ruling by Justice Sir Andrew Smith, which was handed down at 10 o’clock London time.
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By John Helmer, Moscow

Many Hindu gods are depicted with multiple arms. This is a pictorial way of illustrating for believers the many qualities which the god is believed to exercise. By assigning many arms, the illustrator was able to demonstrate the many things the deity can pull off at the same time.
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By John Helmer, Moscow

The Bible isn’t nice to giants. Goliath goes down to a single stone from a slingshot-tossing boy. And Samson, whom the ancient Hebrews thought was so strong he could lift two mountains and rub them together like lumps of earth, fell for the temptress Delilah; she got him to go to sleep, then sapped his strength by cutting off his hair.
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By John Helmer, Moscow

Until today, milk, fruit pulp, and flavoured water (aka juice) have not been known to be strategic resources in the Russian Federation. But clever lobbying, or incredible stupidity, has arranged to make them seem so, and thereby create the appearance of compliance with Russia’s competition and anti-monopoly laws – without the reality.
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