By John Helmer, Moscow The comic book character known as the Gambit was kidnapped from the hospital where he was born and raised by a gang of thieves. He got his way with unusual powers, like kinetic energy and hypnosis. He was also famous for his skill at card-throwing and combat with a long stick. […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, May 12th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Elena Baturina won an unusual battle against Rupert Murdoch’s journalism last week. It is yet another demonstration that when it comes to dispensing Russian justice, the London courts are the only ones who do. The court case, decided by a three-judge panel of the UK Court of Appeal on March 23, […]

by John Helmer - Monday, March 28th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow At least two things are obvious about the Wikileaks disclosures on Russia – one is that a great many cables from the US Embassy Moscow are available in the quarter of a million files obtained by the Guardian newspaper of London; the second is that very few of these have been […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Data: The latest report from Emerging Portfolio Fund Research (EPFR) of Boston shows that funds investing in Russian listed stocks reported net inflows for the week ending March 2. The total invested was $139 million. The last time I reported on the funds flow was a fortnight ago, when the Financial […]

by John Helmer - Friday, March 4th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow This is the tale of how one Russian’s ambition to be the biggest of his kind in the world, and create a safe haven for his wealth in another country, ended up costing public shareholders billions of dollars in equity and dividend losses; enriched a syndicate of international banks; and lost […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, March 3rd, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow When a man of quality like Robin Lane Fox finds beauty in a row of cabbages, it’s churlish to do anything but admire his acuity and taste. And if the cabbages are in the kitchen garden of Jacob Rothschild, the 4th Baron Rothschild (left) and father of Nathaniel Rothschild (right), let […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, December 29th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow Until today, milk, fruit pulp, and flavoured water (aka juice) have not been known to be strategic resources in the Russian Federation. But clever lobbying, or incredible stupidity, has arranged to make them seem so, and thereby create the appearance of compliance with Russia’s competition and anti-monopoly laws – without the […]

by John Helmer - Monday, December 6th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow Lawyers for the US Government have filed a court brief in New York this week, arguing that an earlier ruling by three federal appeals court justices was mistaken in deciding that the US law against racketeering cannot go after racketeers outside US territory, in Russia.

by John Helmer - Friday, November 26th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow Russian poultry producers hope to reduce next year’s poultry import quota to as little as 300,000 tonnes, with just 50,000 tonnes of US chicken legs for direct consumption. Before too long, the domestic growers are also hoping to start exporting Russian poultry abroad.

by John Helmer - Friday, November 19th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow The threat of a total ban on the multi-billion dollar frozen chicken trade to Russia, commencing January 1, has been dropped by the head of Russia’s Trade and Inspection Agency (Rospotrebnadzor, RPN), Gennady Onishchenko. Just as he gave no reason for threatening the ban a few days ago, Onishchenko has given […]

by John Helmer - Monday, November 15th, 2010
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