By John Helmer, Moscow It’s no surprise that when Alisher Usmanov (left) proposed an initial public offering (IPO) of Megafon, a mobile telephone company he controls, he decided to keep all his shares to himself, and to oblige new sharebuyers to bid for stock being sold from the treasury of Megafon, and from minority stockholder, […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, October 10th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Journalists arranging tuxedo events to give themselves prizes are even sillier than Hollywood actors at the Oscar ceremony. There are also no comedians to tell jokes to neutralize the gastroenteric reflex that is always brought on in audiences by a surfeit of brown-nosing. For the British children in the audience who […]

by John Helmer - Monday, October 1st, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Private Eye, the only periodical of investigative journalism still made of paper and ink and for sale in the UK, is old enough to be a grandfather in his dodders. So when the editor, Ian Hislop (aged 52), and his anonymous reporters took sides with Pussy Riot last month, it may […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, September 13th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow A British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) correspondent in Moscow named Steven Rosenberg staged and filmed a rehearsal of what he claims Pussy Riot told him they were planning at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral at least a day, possibly several days before February 21. That is the day when three of the […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, September 4th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Tall stories told by newspapers and their reporters generally don’t start wars. But they do justify them in advance. Afterwards they protect the officials who start them from being prosecuted for war crimes. On August 5, 1964, there was no truth in President Lyndon Johnson’s claim – reported by every major […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 26th, 2012
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by John Helmer - Monday, July 23rd, 2012
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  Genuine readers are invited to take a cup of coffee while they taste today’s black news. This is also a test of the website attackers, who are leaving a revealing trail for our internet detectives to follow.

by John Helmer - Tuesday, June 26th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow When Oleg Deripaska and the Rusal group of companies attack one of their most senior executives for a nine-year old crime that wasn’t, the question that arises is: what does the target know about Deripaska and his methods that may be so dangerous, his credibility and his livelihood should be destroyed? […]

by John Helmer - Monday, June 25th, 2012
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  READER CAUTION: in tough times collection methods get tougher. The following translation from the Russian, originally published on June 14, is presented without editing. A slightly different version appeared in Izvestia on June 13. One of Russia’s leading investigative journalists comments: “the hired criminals did exactly what they were instructed. They did not kill, […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, June 19th, 2012
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In its May 23 edition, the Moscow Times has published the following item, apparently a notice from the press office of United Company Rusal, directed by Vera Kurochkina. The new statement refers to Russian media reports of six months ago, including a Moscow Times publication which appeared on November 29, entitled “Foreign Journalist Sees RusAl […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, May 29th, 2012
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