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By John Helmer in Moscow The US has responded with a powerful SOS for reporters, setting in motion a model for similar protections worldwide. SOS stands for Sod Off Schillings. The new American legislation will make it impossible for practical purposes for Russians to attack American reporting of their activities by suing them or their […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow According to the Chinese tradition, the original Budai (aka Laughing Buddha) was an eccentric Zen Buddhist monk. He lived in the Fenghua province during the Late Liang Dynasty in the first years of the 10th century. His name translates into English as “Promise this”.

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By John Helmer in Moscow It hasn’t been a golden autumn for Peter Hambro (Petro) and Pavel Maslovsky (Pavlovsk) or their London Stock Exchange mining play, Petropavlovsk plc. First, there was a problem with falling production – and falling share price. Then there was the refusal by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing committee to […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow The west African republic of Guinea has never before been so important to Russian mining companies – and to the even bigger internationals. So when Guinean voters go to the polls for the runoff round of their presidential election, much is at stake – and not only for our Russian […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow Evraz, the most heavily indebted of Russian steelmakers, is signaling that it is about to sell a US subsidiary producing the valuable steel alloy ingredient, vanadium. But the signs are that there is no intention on the part of the controlling shareholders of Evraz – Roman Abramovich, Eugene Shvidler, and […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow Victor Vekselberg, the chairman of the board of UC Rusal, went on trial in the Federal Penal Tribunal of Switzerland this week, charged with sharemarket violations, and facing a fine of 40 million Swiss francs ($40 million). That, according to the report of Le Temps today (see illustration), is the […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s ports used to be run by gangsters, because it was one of the easier assets in post-Communist Russia to control by simple violence. The history of the International Longshoremen in the US and Jimmy Hoffa’s Teamsters make this feature of port life unexceptional the world over.

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By John Helmer in Moscow Endeavour Financial Corporation, a Cayman Island goldmine investment fund, announced on Monday that it has found buried treasure in a surprising place — in Alexei Mordashov’s pocket. The fund, which is listed in Canada and controlled by Frank Giustra, has announced that it had sold out its 43% shareholding in […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow This is the year that makes five hundred since Filofei, a very clever monk of Pskov, wrote an appeal to the ambition of Vasily III, Grand Duke of Muscovy, letting him know that if he played his cards right with the Church, the Church would take care of him better […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow Until the Beest of Fleet Street – aka Richard Beeston, Foreign Editor of the London Times – referred to President Dmitry Medvedev as Vladimir Putin’s “diminutive partner”, none of the establishment media in the world had thought to make an issue of the physical size and proportions of either of […]