By John Helmer, Moscow

Oleg Deripaska is running out of friends who stick up for him, especially at the Finance Ministry in Moscow and the Federal Tax Service.

Deripaska doesn’t deny that the practice of tolling, through which his United Company Rusal has saved at least $5 billion in tax payments to the Russian treasury over the past decade, is a boon. But he claims this is lawful. More, he claims it is approved by the Russian government. On the other hand, for the first time this month, the alignment of domestic political forces in Moscow has approached the point where officials dare to say aloud that Rusal’s tolling is a form of stealing.
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by John Helmer - Tuesday, December 28th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow

Tod Browning was an American filmmaker of the early 20th century who suffered from circus obsessions, alcohol, wife and career troubles, which distracted him from showing an interest in the Russian revolution. While the Bolsheviks were planning their takeover of the Kerensky government, Browning made his first feature film. Called Jim Bludso, the story line was about a riverboat captain who sacrificed himself to save the lives of the boat passengers during a fire. It was a hit of sorts.
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by John Helmer - Friday, December 24th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow

Suleiman Kerimov is a businessman of note. He is also a member of the Federation Council, as the upper chamber of the Russian parliament is called. His long parliamentary career began in 1999, when he was elected to the State Duma, as the lower chamber is known. Unlike any elected deputy or senator you can think of the world over, Kerimov doesn’t make speeches in public or in the chamber; and he doesn’t answer questions from the press
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by John Helmer - Thursday, December 23rd, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow

A Moscow newspaper claims today to have seen a document confirming that Russia’s diamond-mining monopoly Alrosa is trying to sell a 50% stake in the Lomonosov diamond field to Rio Tinto, the Anglo-Australian mining company based in London. Alrosa is the largest producer of diamonds in the world at present; Rio tinto ranks third, following De Beers. Rio Tinto currently produces from mines in Australia, Canada, and Zimbabwe, with a mine in planning in India.
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by John Helmer - Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow

This is the season for believing.

But less than a fortnight ago, one of the three wise men in the picture – left to right, Filaret Galchev, Alexander Nesis, Suleiman Kerimov – was saying aloud (privately) that the problems of satisfying stakeholders in the proposed Russian potash consolidation were so complicated, he couldn’t hazard a guess on how they would be resolved, except slowly – very slowly. This evening, even with his feet up and noone else listening in, he says he still doesn’t know how the announcement of the merger between Uralkali and Silvinit was finalized yesterday, or even whether it has been finalized.
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by John Helmer - Tuesday, December 21st, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow

No major shareholder obstacles now stand in the way of the reorganization of Alrosa’s corporate structure, but conversion to the open shareholding company format will take another six months, company spokesman Andrei Polyakov told Polishedprices.com today.
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by John Helmer - Monday, December 20th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow

In Oleg Deripaska’s short career history, his Russian partners don’t last for long.

The record for sufferance is held by Mikhail Chernoy (Michael Cherney), whose agreement to lend Deripaska money and grant him trustee rights over Chernoy’s 13% shareholding in United Company Rusal lasted for more than five years – between 2001 and 2006 – before Chernoy concluded that Deripaska was cheating him, and opened contract enforcement and recovery proceedings in the UK High Court.
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by John Helmer - Friday, December 17th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow

The Prime Minister has asked Russians to send him their choices of a name for a young Bulgarian shepherd dog, which was presented to him by the dog fancier, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, when the two met in Sofia on November 13.
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by John Helmer - Thursday, December 16th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow

Not since Raisa Gorbacheva revealed that she knew how to use a credit card for shopping and displayed the PhD she had bought, I mean earned, has the wife of a Russian head of state attracted such a display of petit bourgeois chagrin.
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by John Helmer - Monday, December 13th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow

The 421-page ruling of UK High Court Justice Andrew Smith, issued on Friday in London, dismisses all charges and claims pursued for the past five years against Dmitry Skarga, former chief executive of Sovcomflot, and Tagir Izmaylov, his counterpart at Novorossiysk Shipping Company (Novoship). The consequences are dramatic for the Russian government. The judgement makes impossible the public listing of Sovcomflot shares in any international market because of the evidence disclosed that the company lies to its auditors, falsifies financial records, encourages perjury, and knowingly engages corrupt officials for the purpose of fabricating schemes of personal vengeance and wrongful enrichment.
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by John Helmer - Monday, December 13th, 2010
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