By John Helmer, Moscow Captain Matthew Flinders was a late 18th century British Navy captain and one of the greatest explorer navigators of his time. His circumnavigation around the southern continent he called Australia also led to the naming of dozens of places by his name, along with a species of local citrus tree. He […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, May 24th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Novolipetsk Metallurgical Combine (NLMK) and its owner Vladimir Lisin have won a suppression order against Nikolai Maximov, former owner of the Maxi group of minimills and scrap processors, from the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg. A three-judge panel has imposed a permanent injunction against publication in the press of claims by […]

by John Helmer - Monday, May 21st, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Whoever Elena Egorova may be, she and Victor Rashnikov, owner of Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine (MMK), share exactly the same desire for personal anonymity and business secrecy as the Chelyabinsk court case against MMK’s half-billion dollar purchase of an Australian iron-ore mining project reaches its climax later this month. This is their […]

by John Helmer - Friday, May 4th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Every competent gardener knows that horse shit makes valuable fertilizer, so long as you give it at least two months of airing and composting to get rid of the acidity which kills plant roots, and the seeds which grow weeds where you don’t want them. Chicken shit is more balanced, biochemically […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, May 1st, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Judge Natalia Bulavintseva ruled yesterday in Chelyabinsk Arbitrazh court that the hearing she had previously fixed for argument by lawyers on the substance of the case against Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine’s (MMK) purchase of Flinders Mines will be delayed for another month. Instead of April 25, this hearing has now been set […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, April 26th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Flinders Mines (FMS) is what one investor calls a hedge fund hotel, a hangout for bettors on a sure thing. The source means that after Victor Rashnikov (front seat, left), owner of Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine (MMK), decided to buy FMS last November, roughly half the value of the company was bought […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, April 17th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow The unprecedented display of judicial power against the steel oligarch, Victor Rashnikov, on his home turf continued yesterday and today. Yesterday, at a hearing in the Chelyabinsk Arbitrazh Court Judge Natalia Bulavintseva took a few minutes without the attendance of lawyers, plaintiff Elena Egorova, or executives of Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine (MMK), […]

by John Helmer - Friday, April 13th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow If, and it remains a big if, Victor Rashnikov’s Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine (MMK) is not clandestinely behind the attempt last week by an unknown shareholder to block the completion of MMK’s proposed takeover of Australian iron-ore prospector, Flinders Mines, then a ruling yesterday by Judge N.A.Bulavintseva is the first sign. According […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, April 10th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow The bun has been in the oven for Victor Rashnikov for six months now. But did he go to President-elect Vladimir Putin and ask permission to put it there? It seems not. Has he been told to pull it out without burning everybody (except for the Australians)? Maybe. For the previous […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, April 8th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Among Russians Egorova and Egorov are pretty common names, second only in circulation to Ivanova and Ivanov. That puts it up in the ranks of the Smiths and the Browns. If there really is a litigant named Elena Nikolaevna Egorova; if she owns a minuscule bloc of shares in Magnitogorsk Metallurgical […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, April 4th, 2012
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