By John Helmer in Moscow The St. Petersburg fight over port terminal andshipping assets has taken a muscular turn, as police raiders, acting at the behest of Bank St. Petersburg, appear to be grabbing assets worth more than a bank valuation allows, and despite a court order invalidating the seizure. Vitaly Arkhangelsky’s Oslo Marine Group […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow The reason for an unexpected Chinese advertisement for a billion-dollar iron-ore and steel complex in a remote part of Siberia became clear in Moscow today. It reveals that, starved for cash as most Russian metal and mining companies currently are, they aren’t yet prepared to let the Chinese build competing […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister of Italy, has named a bed in his Roman home, Palazzo Grazioli, after the Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin, according to a conversation Berlusconi had last November with a young lady he was inviting to join him in the bed. The bed itself is […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
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