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By John Helmer, Moscow Sergei Frank, a former federal transport minister and chief executive of the state shipping company Sovcomflot since 2004, is unique among Russian state officials. He is the only one to have been adjudicated by a series of UK judges to have lied, been dishonest in evidence-gathering, and vindictive in his use […]
by Editor - Wednesday, November 22nd, 2017
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By John Helmer, Moscow President Vladimir Putin’s campaign to repatriate Russian capital from offshore havens, and to force the well-known Russian oligarchs to return their cash and assets to Russia, took a leap forward on Monday evening in Nice, France. That is when French police arrested Suleiman Kerimov (lead image), and refused to accept that the […]
by Editor - Wednesday, November 22nd, 2017
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By John Helmer, Moscow The Russian state bank VTB has corroborated its role in managing a complicated set of loans, insider transfers and repurchase agreements for Oleg Deripaska’s aluminium and electricity holding, EN+, which issued global depositary receipts on the London Stock Exchange last week. Since the listing, the Russian group has lost $140 million […]
by Editor - Tuesday, November 14th, 2017
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By John Helmer, Moscow Last week, the first week in the life of Russia’s EN+ Group on the London Stock Exchange, Oleg Deripaska (lead images), control shareholder and chief executive, took $500 million in cash for himself, then triggered a $112 million loss for the other shareholders led by the Russian state bank, VTB. […]
by Editor - Sunday, November 12th, 2017
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By John Helmer, Moscow Stealing diamonds is a common crime. Stealing diamond mines is not unheard of, particularly in Africa. But the Grib diamond mine in the Arkhangelsk region of Russia is the only diamond mine to have been stolen four times in just twenty years. This is a record in the history of the […]
by Editor - Monday, November 6th, 2017
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By John Helmer, Moscow Roman Abramovich (lead image) is the leading shareholder of the Russian steel, iron-ore and coal mining group called Evraz. Among Russia’s leading steel groups, it ranks second in output of crude steel; fourth in market value. It is the leader in indebtedness. By international measures, Evraz also leads its Russian peers […]
by Editor - Tuesday, October 17th, 2017
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By John Helmer, Moscow When you are a Russian oligarch with a 20-year record of settling out of court with friends, partners and investors accusing you of deceit; when you have a 7-year record of failing to sustain your share value in a genuine stock market, what do you do next? You announce to a […]
by Editor - Monday, October 9th, 2017
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By John Helmer, Moscow Oleg Deripaska (lead image, left) is famous for snatching other people’s money and legging it. The records of the High Court in London show what he did to Mikhail Chernoy (Cherney), Boris Berezovsky, and Roman Abramovich. Chernoy recovered $200 million in 2012; click to open. Only two people have ever taken […]
by Editor - Sunday, September 24th, 2017
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By John Helmer, Moscow The collapse of Otkritie Bank last month is the largest Russian bank failure since the collapse of National Bank Trust in December 2014. The Central Bank rescue of Trust made inevitable the much more costly bailout of Otrkitie, announced a fortnight ago on August 29, charges Ilya Yurov, the former […]
by Editor - Monday, September 11th, 2017
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By John Helmer, Moscow Igor Zyuzin (lead image) is the first Russian oligarch to face prosecution for polluting the air around his factories. The announcement of criminal charges last week comes as Chelyabinsk regional and city officials escalate a war against lobbying by well-known names around President Vladimir Putin to save Mechel, Zyuzin’s coal and […]
by Editor - Thursday, July 20th, 2017
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