By John Helmer in Moscow

After selling out of its container business, the Far Eastern Shipping Company (Fesco), owned by Sergei Generalov (right image), has announced it is taking an August time-out, and will return in September with an announcement of its “near-term strategy”. It isn’t known where Generalov will take his holiday, but if it’s Fantasy Island (left image) the financial details of Fesco’s reorganization and the terms Generalov has apparently accepted to continue in business will require a strong dose of reality to be understood. Since the heavily indebted, loss-making concern has been unable to date to arrange share sales to strategic or ordinary investors, it has been covering its debts by selling off assets, reducing substantially its fleet operations and eliminating much of its port terminal business.
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by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

Among the squares of 17th century London, St. James’s is one of the least pretentious, even if several of the buildings on the square have made a reputation for themselves as pretenders to such things as wealth management, war-fighting, and diplomacy. For them, the equestrian statue of King William III, set in the centre of the square’s garden, is an ill omen. For in 1702 William died of complications from falling off his horse.
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by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

Yury Humber and the Bloomberg bureau in Moscow run by Bradley Cook have a special relationship with United Company Rusal.
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by John Helmer - Monday, July 26th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

The first time Vladimir Putin made the outhouse a lever of state policy was in 1999. Referring to Chechen secessionists and terrorists, he said: “If we can find them in the outhouse, we will whack them in the outhouse.”

On Friday, in Chelyabinsk, he did it again. Only this time the target was the governor of Chelyabinsk region, Mikhail Yurevich, and municipal officials. Microbial organisms are the governor’s specialty, for Yurevich made a fortune buying up much of the yeast production of Russia before serving terms in the State Duma, and then becoming Mayor of Chelyabinsk; he was elevated to the governorship early this year.
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by John Helmer - Monday, July 26th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

Noone who knows and loves Victor Vekselberg doubts his philanthropy towards the country of his birth.

He has helped finance the return of the original Danilovsky Monastery bells, sold to the US in 1930, and then donated to Harvard University. He allows his collection of Faberge eggs to tour Russian provincial museums from time to time.
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by John Helmer - Friday, July 23rd, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

Mechel, the coking coal and specialty steel group controlled by Igor Zyuzin, has released its production report for the second quarter ended June 30. By the simple device of comparing the latest output figures for the six months ending June 30, 2010, with those of the first half of 2009, the Mechel release is a model of how to mislead the unwary shareholder and encourage meretricious brokerage analysts promoting share sales.
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by John Helmer - Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

It is now official – this month of July is the hottest in Moscow since the Russian Meteorological Service began keeping regular daily records and issuing temperature measurement bulletins. That was back in 1872. Since then the heat-wave years have occurred in 1885, 1920, 1938, 1939, 2001, and 2002.
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by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine (MMK) has just announced that it has abandoned both the Ohio and Oregon steelmill projects in the US, which the company, owned by Victor Rashnikov, has been considering for several years.
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by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

Gennady Onishchenko, the Russian government’s chief health inspector, has issued a new diktat, claiming that bottles of imported wine have been found to contain dibutyl phthalate. There’s a catch, though. Onishchenko’s spokesman refuses to say if he has also banned pencil erasers, plastic toys, and nail polish, all of which have been found by European Union and US inspectors to contain harmful levels of dibutyl phthalate if sucked; they have been banned from consumer sale in those markets for at least five years.
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by John Helmer - Monday, July 19th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

The truth hurts, speaking musculoskeletically.

Vladimir Potanin (right) usually gives his nerves away when he’s under pressure by the rapid tapping of his foot under the table. Oleg Deripaska (left) shows his nerves, when gulping noises are audible in his throat and he forces a smile.
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by John Helmer - Friday, July 16th, 2010
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