MORE BARK THAN BITE? MORE QUESTIONS DOG VICTOR RASHNIKOV’S COURT CASE IN...
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...
View ArticleTO PASS OVER OR NOT TO PASS OVER, THAT’S THE EGYPTIAN QUESTION FOR RUSSIAN...
By John Helmer, Moscow This is not the time of year when there’s much sympathy for the plagues in Egypt. If you are Jewish, there’s the lot the Pharaoh richly deserved — the gnats, flies, frogs,...
View ArticleCHELYABINSK COURT RULING RELEASED — RASHNIKOV GETS HIS COMEUPPANCE FROM...
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...
View ArticleRUSSIAN BANANA DANCE — KEKHMAN PAYS THE TICKET
By John Helmer, Moscow Vladimir Kekhman, owner of the Joint Fruit Company (JFC), the near-monopoly supplier of bananas to the Russian market, has wound up his dispute with Star Reefers, the banana boat...
View ArticleHEDGE FUND HOTEL BECOMES HEARTBREAK HOTEL — VICTOR RASHNIKOV CALLS IN...
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...
View ArticleMEXICAN STANDOFF AT NORTHERN SHIPYARD — WHEN WILL RUSSIA HAVE A GOVERNMENT?
By John Helmer, Moscow From the Bo Xilai case it can be inferred that at the senior level of the Chinese government, the only things done really fast there are taking bribes and poisoning squealers. By...
View ArticleNEW CRISIS FOR RUSAL IN GUINEA — OLEG DERIPASKA FACES TOTAL LOSS, TELLS...
By John Helmer, Moscow Oleg Deripaska has insulted another President of the Republic of Guinea as Rusal’s entire country position, including its bauxite mine concessions and the Friguia alumina...
View ArticleTIE ME UP, TIE ME DOWN — ANOTHER CHELYABINSK PUT-OFF FOR VICTOR RASHNIKOV’S MMK
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...
View ArticleRUSPETRO – THE LITTLE OIL WELL THAT WATERS A BILLION-DOLLAR DREAM
By John Helmer, Moscow If you believe what RusPetro Plc says, this loss-making venture on a small oil patch in Khantiy-Mansiysk — a patch no major Russian oil company has wanted to bother with — is...
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