By John Helmer, Moscow The key figure behind years of allegations against three Russian partners — Oleg Deripaska, Michael Cherney (Mikhail Chernoy), and Iskander Makhmudov — appears to have turned turtle, and sought a meeting with Cherney in Israel late last month.

by John Helmer - Thursday, February 10th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Not even Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at a smelter inauguration, Bloomberg promotion, lashings of gold paint on the factory walls, and fourteen hundred spotless white worker uniforms have given Chelyabinsk Pipe (Chelpipe, ChTPZ), Russia’s third largest producer of steel pipes and tubes, the dressing-up required to attract international buyers for its […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, February 10th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Deep inside the Russian government there is a chamber of secrets where officials have gathered just eight times since April 29, 2008, the day when then-President Vladimir Putin signed the law that created the chamber. The law was entitled “On Procedures for Foreign Investments in Business Entities of Strategic Importance for […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, November 24th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow How much gold should potential investors in Alexei Mordashov’s gold-mining venture, now named NordGold, think they are buying into?

by John Helmer - Tuesday, October 12th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow The Severstal steel and mining group, owned by Alexei Mordashov, has issued a prospectus this week for the issue of up to $3 billion in loan participation notes to restructure the group’s current debts. The issue is being underwritten by Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital, and the Royal Bank of Scotland. […]

by John Helmer - Monday, October 11th, 2010
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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 […]

by John Helmer - Monday, September 20th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Oleg Deripaska is preparing a series of presentations to institutional investors next week in Boston and New York, chaperoned by one of his largest creditor banks, BNP Paribas. Rarely has so unconvincing a lamb been led to market by so well-known a wolf; or such an odd couple asked to […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow If this wasn’t Russia, the amount of negative scrutiny the Evraz steel group, owned by Roman Abramovich and Alexander Abramov, is getting lately from the federal government would signal that the owners are in trouble with the rulers. Also, if this wasn’t Russia, assurances from stock brokerages calling on investors […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 9th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Kosh-Agach is a steppe word meaning ‘so long, tree’. It’s the world’s end, the driest and direst place in fareastern Russia at a remote corner where the frontiers of Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China meet. It is also the location of a large reserve of rare metals, including cobalt. So rare […]

by John Helmer - Monday, July 5th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met yesterday at Novokuznetsk city, in the Kemerovo region, with families of miners who were killed at the May 8 explosions that destroyed the Raspadskaya coking-coal mine, one of Russia’s largest. In remarks published on the prime ministry website, Putin hinted that he holds Raspadskaya’s management […]

by John Helmer - Friday, June 25th, 2010
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