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 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 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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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
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 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 in Moscow
Severstal has announced a transaction which returns the Italian steelmaker Lucchini to Alexei Mordashov, the controlling shareholder of the Severstal group, who originally bought the asset and then re- sold it to his company in 2005-2006.
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By John Helmer in Moscow
Dodon was the power-mad, menopausal tsar in the opera, Zolotoi Petushok (Le Coq d’Or, Golden Cockerel), by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and he is making his comeback in St. Petersburg. This time the role is being played by Valery Gergiev (image), who usually keeps to the conductor’s podium in the orchestra pit, or in his office as the Mariiinsky Theatre’s administrative and artistic director. Never underestimate the ambition of leading lights of the Russian stage to play tsar, Stalin, or Dodon.
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By John Helmer in Moscow
After weeks of fierce, behind the scenes campaigning for votes to boost Rusal’s takeover attempt against Norilsk Nickel, shareholders of the latter struck back at Monday’s Annual General Meeting, flooring Deripaska. Rusal has issued a statement promising a counter-attack at a proposed Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders – if, within the 60 to 90-day interval before this can be held, Deripaska can rally enough votes to avoid another knock-down.
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By John Helmer in Moscow
As Ronald Reagan used to say, when stumped for words in the presidential debate against then President Jimmy Carter: There you go again!
When the Russian owners and managers of High River Gold announce they are launching bankruptcy action in the Russian courts against Prognoz Silver LLC, you ought to ask what is the calculation by Alexei Mordashov, the controlling shareholder of HRG and its parent, Severstal Gold? Is he planning another hostile takeover, as he attempted unsuccessfully against HRG’s minority shareholders last year? Is the true value of the Prognoz deposit about to disappear into anonymous hands, before reappearing at a new valuation on the asset ledger of Severstal Gold, before it goes to IPO?
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