By John Helmer, Moscow When the archaeologists of the next millennium excavate, they will find the evidence of a tectonic shift and turning-point in Russian history that took place in the two months between December 28 and February 25. That’s from the day Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed government order number VP-P13-9308, and instructed Deputy […]

by John Helmer - Monday, February 27th, 2012
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by John Helmer - Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow After he left Soviet trade union and youth organization work behind, Igor Yurgens became an advocate of the commercial Russian insurance industry. So he knows how to calculate risk and how to write an insurance premium to cover it. The Centre for Contemporary Development (INSOR), which Yurgens directs, has been widely […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, February 5th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Ignore the plot entirely, but try this Stalin point from a novel called Archangel. The story by Robert Harris, written in 1998, is about a semi-alcoholic professor of Russian history – Englishman, with a New York address — who is hot on the trail of Stalin’s personal notebooks, which he thinks […]

by John Helmer - Monday, January 30th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Alrosa’s state-owned shares will not be privatized until 2017, if then, a Kremlin document reveals this week. The document is a 35-page briefing paper compiled by the Ministry of Economic Development, and presented by the Minister, Elvira Nabiullina, to President Dmitry Medvedev on January 24. In a tabulation of the government’s […]

by John Helmer - Friday, January 27th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Never before has the American electorate been given the opportunity to vote for a president whose first name gives away everything he stands for. And I’m not talking about Honest Abe — Abe meant nothing. In the history of Newts the climax was first reached in 1934 by Augustus Fink-Nottle (left), […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow The first Dance with Bears appeared in the Russia Journal, edited by Ajay Goyal, a decade ago. It began as a short commentary appearing once or twice a week. The title came from Astolphe de Custine, the greatest observer of Russia ever to be obliged to conceal what he was writing […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow “Russia’s federal security service, the successor to the KGB, has launched a cold-war style attack on non-governmental organisations and human rights groups, linking them with alleged espionage by British diplomats in Moscow.The accusations against the British diplomats come within weeks of Russia assuming the presidency of G8 from Britain and just […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, January 19th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Homer accords with the latest in canine science. Because Odysseus raised his Argos as a pup from birth, the dog fixed on him as devotedly as he would, had his canine mother, or another human being, done the nurturing within the first ten weeks of the dog’s life. Odysseus, far too […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, December 25th, 2011
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Э.Мацкявичюс: Владимир Владимирович, есть вопрос, поступивший на сайт программы, он, отчасти, продолжает тему, поднятую Александром Андреевичем: “Читаю сообщение о суде в Лондоне и думаю, когда украденные у народа деньги перестанут обогащать Англию?” Я точно не поручусь, но, видимо, имеется в виду суд между Абрамовичем и Березовским.

by John Helmer - Friday, December 16th, 2011
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