By John Helmer in Moscow Russia has abandoned its anti-piracy policy of fire, capture, arrest, and trial. Instead, the Defence Ministry and Navy have begun issuing orders to the destroyer Admiral Panteleyev, off the Horn of Africa, to put ashore the group of pirates it took on April 28. The Navy also appears to have […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Severstal, the third-ranked Russian steelmaker, continues to suffer from owner and chief executive Alexei Mordashov’s past ambitions to be the world’s largest steelmaker, with safe-haven production lines in the United States. What has already happened to other Russian oligarchs has arrived for Mordashov: caught in the ring with his bankers, […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow A meeting of Alrosa management board, followed by the board of directors, last week decided to modify earlier estimates of this year’s mine production plan, but slashed this year’s target profit figure. This is the first official indication of how effective the state purchasing scheme for Alrosa diamonds is proving […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow The Russian Grain Union has accused the Egyptian government of a legal manoeuvre with an arriving wheat shipment, in order to force a cut in Russian export prices. Alexander Korbut, vice-president of the producers’ union, told Fairplay a 52,000-tonne shipment of medium-quality wheat has been arrested at the Red Sea […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, May 17th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s second oil producer, LUKoil, has successfully moored the first of its new oil production platforms in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea. The company issued an announcement last Friday. The ice-resistant platform is a production unit of the Yury Korchagin oilfield, which is located at sea, 180 kilometres […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, May 17th, 2009
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By John Helmer The world of manganese mining is so small, concentrated, and dependent on China, as both producer and consumer, that if there are shenanigans, the reputation of the trade can be swiftly and seriously threatened, especially in China. For the biggest of the producers, the Australians and South Africans, manganese is a sideline. […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, May 17th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow The last time Russia took fighting pirates seriously was two centuries ago, when the Empress Catherine the Great, followed byher short-lived successor Tsar Paul I, backed the Knights of Malta, who in turn fought naval engagements with the pirates of Barbary — as the Arab statelets and fortress towns of […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, May 10th, 2009
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May 8-July 3, 2009 Adam Waldman of The Endeavor Group, Washington, DC, for “correction” of media publications reporting that he is Oleg Deripaska’s lobbyist to recover Deripaska’s US visa, revoked by the US State Department in 2006 Registration with the US Department of Justice by Adam Waldman for The Endeavour Group, pursuant to the Foreign […]

by John Helmer - Friday, May 8th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Evraz, the most heavily indebted of Russia’s steelmakers, has refused to respond to questions about disclosures in its annual financial report for 2008, released on April 30, that the Russian group has pledged virtually its entire shareholding stakes in its North American assets, and in its lead longs mill, West […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s state-owned crude oil pipeline company Transneft will commence loading oil tankers at Kozmino, the newest Russian oil port to be launched, as soon as December. With eventual capacity to load and ship 50 million tonnes per year (1 million barrels per day), Kozmino is to be one of the […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
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