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By John Helmer, Moscow It used to be fashionable for European tourists of high class, especially the ladies with their menfolk, to visit wars and enjoy the display of artillery at night; the clash of infantry and cavalry on the battlefield; and the morgues where the casualties were displayed in naked and dismembered heaps afterwards. […]

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By John Helmer, Moscow Like you, I have been a frequent commercial airplane flyer for years. I don’t have a bone break or concussion to report from airplane or airport handling, though like you too, my luggage has suffered that, and worse. My teeth are falling out from natural causes. I have not been beaten […]

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By John Helmer, Moscow Going or coming, Russian users of private jet aircraft think they are screwed. If they fly on foreign-made planes which are registered in Russia, they are obliged under the current tax regulations to pay 18% value-added tax (VAT) on the customs-declared value of the aircraft, plus 2.2% annual property tax. If […]

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By John Helmer, Moscow This morning Signor Enzo Caderni, the Director of the Grand Hotel & Pace Spa at Montecatini Terme, a well-known establishment in the Tuscan mineral waters resort, has confirmed that the wife of the outgoing president of Russia, Svetlana Medvedeva , has taken his hotel for a personal visit. The entire hotel, […]

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There is a scam among taxi drivers working at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport. With his passenger on board and after taking the fare into the city, the taxi driver starts his engine. But he hasn’t gone beyond the airport boundary when he simulates a technical failure and announces the car can’t go any further. He then […]