By John Helmer, Moscow On Saturday, while the controlling shareholders of Sky News, Rupert Murdoch and his son James, were having to eat their words and apologize for invasion of privacy, bribery of policemen, lying to parliament, and other law-breaking — losing control of Sky News in the process — one of their ace reporters […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow Not since the Biblical one – 5 (loaves) x 2 (fish) ÷ 5,000 (mouths) — has the division of assets proved to generate a value multiplier like the one Igor Zyuzin, owner of the Mechel steel and mining group, is trying to pull off. Or proved less convincing to the crowd […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, July 17th, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow Sergei Frank (bottom image), chief executive of Sovcomflot, is hanging on to his job despite judgements by the UK High Court last December and this March that he is a liar and worse. Sovcomflot, one of the largest oil tanker companies in the world, has sought leave to appeal against the […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 15th, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow In the wake of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s negotiations in Washington this week, US State Department documents have leaked from 2009 and 2010, revealing that American and other international banks were given an ultimatum by Deputy Prime Ministers Igor Shuvalov and Igor Sechin – either roll over the debts Oleg Deripaska […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 14th, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow According to the Kremlin website, on July 11 President Dmitry Medvedev met with “representatives of major private and state-owned companies”. The Kremlin website has identified them:

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 14th, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow If Vnesheconombank (VEB), the state bailout bank chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, really has agreed to pay $5.3 billion for the 80% control shareholding of Raspadskaya, the coking coalminer, then this is going to be Roman Abramovich’s lucky day. His second lucky day, if to count the September 2005 transaction […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 13th, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow During this week’s Washington, DC, visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, a mid-level State Department official appears to be the key to whether Oleg Deripaska’s lobbying campaign to recover his US visa will succeed. Dan Russell, who served in the US Embassy in Moscow between 2003 and 2008, is now […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow As Canadian stock market regulators open their first-ever investigation into listing practices by Russian companies trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the chief executive of High River Gold (HRG) has warned shareholders against reading reports appearing on this website. A Canadian shareholder of HRG has received an email letter from Konstantin […]

by John Helmer - Monday, July 11th, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow Brian Gilbertson, the leading South African mining entrepreneur, has launched a new stage of his investment in the Faberge jewellery marque with the first release for sale since 1917 of Faberge jewelled eggs, designed by the family of the original Russian court jeweller, Peter Carl Faberge. Four of the eggs, including […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 8th, 2011
No Comments »

By John Helmer, Moscow The greatest of the great Canadians, Glenn Gould was, by his own admission, a lover of driving big, fast cars on the open road. When criticized for his rule-breaking, he acknowledged: “I know I’m at fault for driving through red lights occasionally. But look at the number of times I’ve stopped […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 8th, 2011
No Comments »