By John Helmer in Moscow

Fyodor Andreyev was appointed chief executive of Alrosa, the state-owned Russian diamond monopoly and world’s second diamond miner after De Beers, a year ago, after the Kremlin decided to change the diamond concession. Ousted were the chief executive Sergei Vybornov and Otar Marganya, mediator and fixer between the company, the Sakha government, the federal treasury, and the Minister of Finance, Alexei Kudrin, who doubles as Alrosa’s board chairman. The Sakha president Vyacheslav Shtirov asked to go at the time, but was told to wait. He departed at the end of May this year.
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by John Helmer - Sunday, July 11th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

If this wasn’t Russia, the amount of negative scrutiny the Evraz steel group, owned by Roman Abramovich and Alexander Abramov, is getting lately from the federal government would signal that the owners are in trouble with the rulers.

Also, if this wasn’t Russia, assurances from stock brokerages calling on investors to bid up and buy Evraz shares would sound so counter-intuitive and self-serving as not to be worth the credibility risk of publishing. But this is Russia: if Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his deputy, Igor Sechin, are beginning a shakeup of oligarch concessions in the mining and metals industries, there isn’t a steel analyst or an investment banker in Moscow who believes they are serious. More shakedown than shakeup is how the brokers and bankers think of it.
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by John Helmer - Friday, July 9th, 2010
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The Levellers – John Wildman, John Lilburne, William Walwyn, Richard Overton et al., 1645-49
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by John Helmer - Thursday, July 8th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

On July 6, Sergei Generalov, chief executive and controlling shareholder of Far Eastern Shipping Company (Fesco) announced plans to hold a private placement of newly issued shares.
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by John Helmer - Thursday, July 8th, 2010
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The Australian foreign ministry, known as the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), has released 350 pages of documents in connection with the investigation in Canberra of the attempted attack on John Helmer, which took place on December 28. A total of 178 documents with classifications ranging from CONFIDENTIAL to SECRET SENSITIVE have been released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
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by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

Russia’s fast-expanding shipping mogul, Roman Trotsenko, chief executive of the state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), has told Fairplay that reports he is about to buy Nordic Yards, or invest in a joint venture, are false. That may be true; or then again, Trotsenko may be bargaining over the purchase price.
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by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 6th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

Kosh-Agach is a steppe word meaning ‘so long, tree’. It’s the world’s end, the driest and direst place in fareastern Russia at a remote corner where the frontiers of Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China meet. It is also the location of a large reserve of rare metals, including cobalt. So rare is cobalt that since 2008 Russian law doesn’t allow foreigners to dig it out of the ground, sell it, or export it without special permission.
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by John Helmer - Monday, July 5th, 2010
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AND FOR SKILL IN ARRANGING POLITICAL PAYOFFS, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE, TAX EVASION, MONEY LAUNDERING, EXTORTION, AND BRIBES, ACCORDING TO WHAT THE BUTLER OVERHEARD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkNdn42_wN4

Note: for further information on Madame Bettencourt, her confidante, her butler, the tapes, and the court proceedings at Nanterre, use this link.

by John Helmer - Sunday, July 4th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

Business aviation, that elite division of the Mile High Club that is more luxurious and more private than first-class, has been a poor investment since the crash of 2008. A great many jets have been on the market, including the Boeing 737 Business Jet (BBJ) that is owned by Suleiman Kerimov. According to information provided by aircraft brokers, this one is currently for sale for $46.95 million.
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by John Helmer - Friday, July 2nd, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

Gennady Onishchenko (picture) would flog a dead horse to protect domestic product market share against foreign imports, and that’s as good as protecting Russian consumer health, even better perhaps.

Onishchenko saved Russians from the perils of Belarus milk last June and then in January he rescued the state from American chicken and pork.
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by John Helmer - Thursday, July 1st, 2010
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