By John Helmer, Moscow EN+, one of Oleg Deripaska’s holding companies, announced today it has swapped $500 million of its debt to VTB, the Russian state bank, for a 4.35% shareholding which the bank will now hold in EN+. Oleg Deripaska, who owns all of EN+ through another of his holding companies, Basic Element, was […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Not since the Biblical one – 5 (loaves) x 2 (fish) ÷ 5,000 (mouths) — has the division of assets proved to generate a value multiplier like the one Igor Zyuzin, owner of the Mechel steel and mining group, is trying to pull off. Or proved less convincing to the crowd […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, July 17th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow In the wake of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s negotiations in Washington this week, US State Department documents have leaked from 2009 and 2010, revealing that American and other international banks were given an ultimatum by Deputy Prime Ministers Igor Shuvalov and Igor Sechin – either roll over the debts Oleg Deripaska […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 14th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow According to the Kremlin website, on July 11 President Dmitry Medvedev met with “representatives of major private and state-owned companies”. The Kremlin website has identified them:

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 14th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow If Vnesheconombank (VEB), the state bailout bank chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, really has agreed to pay $5.3 billion for the 80% control shareholding of Raspadskaya, the coking coalminer, then this is going to be Roman Abramovich’s lucky day. His second lucky day, if to count the September 2005 transaction […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 13th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow During this week’s Washington, DC, visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, a mid-level State Department official appears to be the key to whether Oleg Deripaska’s lobbying campaign to recover his US visa will succeed. Dan Russell, who served in the US Embassy in Moscow between 2003 and 2008, is now […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow As Canadian stock market regulators open their first-ever investigation into listing practices by Russian companies trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the chief executive of High River Gold (HRG) has warned shareholders against reading reports appearing on this website. A Canadian shareholder of HRG has received an email letter from Konstantin […]

by John Helmer - Monday, July 11th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow The greatest of the great Canadians, Glenn Gould was, by his own admission, a lover of driving big, fast cars on the open road. When criticized for his rule-breaking, he acknowledged: “I know I’m at fault for driving through red lights occasionally. But look at the number of times I’ve stopped […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 8th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow If you’re feeling peckish, but the price of fish is too high to swallow, whom do you call? Gennady Timchenko (right image), that’s who – the man who has settled with several English newspapers out of court that he’s not a friend of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and benefits commercially in […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 6th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow They said it could never be done, but Alexei Mordashov has done it! Having failed to buy out the 27% Canadian minority shareholders in High River Gold (HRG), who refuse to sell at his price, Mordashov, owner of 73% of the shares, has hidden the annual general meeting where noone but […]

by John Helmer - Monday, July 4th, 2011
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