By John Helmer, Moscow

Oleg Deripaska has told the Chinese to carry his water while he waits for the British to decide what he owes to the individual who, once upon a time, trusted him more than anyone else has done ever since.
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by John Helmer - Tuesday, November 30th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow

When Transcontainer, the state rail company, started selling its shares in the form of global depositary receipts (GDR) on the London Stock Exchange on November 11, the price fixing was $80 per share, $8 per GDR.

“We are very pleased that the first IPO of a subsidiary of Russian Railways has been positively received by international investors’, said RZhD President Vladimir Yakunin (see image). ‘We view this as a strong gesture of their support for the ongoing reform of the Russian railway transportation sector. RZhD warmly welcomes new shareholders of Trans-Container and will continue to support Trans-Container’s business in Russia and abroad.”

But this isn’t what happened at all – and Yakunin, along with everyone else in the international market, knows it.
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by John Helmer - Monday, November 29th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow

After announcing early in the week that 50% of Sovcomflot’s shares will be sold over the next two years, between 2011 and 2013, government officials today refused to tell Fairplay what valuation the government has put on the shipping company, and how much cash the sell-off has been targeted to raise.
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by John Helmer - Friday, November 26th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow

According to the announcement from Wikileaks, and confirmed by the US State Department, next week there will be the public disclosure of approximately 2.8 million classified US cables and internal government reports identifying foreign government corruption and other criminality; and also what US-allied governments, such as the UK, Canada, Norway, and Australia, are doing to conceal it. The New York Times and the Guardian of London are preparing the materials for publication.
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by John Helmer - Friday, November 26th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow

Lawyers for the US Government have filed a court brief in New York this week, arguing that an earlier ruling by three federal appeals court justices was mistaken in deciding that the US law against racketeering cannot go after racketeers outside US territory, in Russia.
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by John Helmer - Friday, November 26th, 2010
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by John Helmer - Thursday, November 25th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow

Deep inside the Russian government there is a chamber of secrets where officials have gathered just eight times since April 29, 2008, the day when then-President Vladimir Putin signed the law that created the chamber. The law was entitled “On Procedures for Foreign Investments in Business Entities of Strategic Importance for National Defence and State Security”; for short, Law № 57-FZ. The chamber is called the Government Commission for Control of Foreign Investment in the Russian Federation, the Control Commission for short (aka the Government Commission).
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by John Helmer - Wednesday, November 24th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow

Gazprom, Russia’s largest company and the world’s leading exporter of natural gas, says it will delay all investment spending in Nigeria at least until next year’s Nigerian presidential election result is decided, and new legislation enacted to secure foreign investment in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. The statement of Gazprom’s nervousness came just before Nigerian pirates attacked a Russian oil tanker off Lagos, injuring four seamen.
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by John Helmer - Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow

Russian poultry producers hope to reduce next year’s poultry import quota to as little as 300,000 tonnes, with just 50,000 tonnes of US chicken legs for direct consumption. Before too long, the domestic growers are also hoping to start exporting Russian poultry abroad.
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by John Helmer - Friday, November 19th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow

After months of speculation that the recent Rothschild family flotation Vallar Plc would buy a Russian iron-ore or coalminer, Vallar has announced in London that instead it is buying an Indonesian steam coal group owned by Aburizal Bakrie (right image). Bakrie is described in the Financial Times as “arguably Indonesia’s most powerful businessman”.
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by John Helmer - Thursday, November 18th, 2010
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