By John Helmer in Moscow

For a brief moment, the death of Boris Yeltsin in April allowed his supporters and critics to reappear in full cry; particularly his supporters, whose attacks on the Putin administration have failed to attract an audience outside Embassy Row, and who are naturally nostalgic for the days when their bons mots drew better remuneration.

Since almost no Russian or western correspondent remains in Moscow today, who reported on the Gorbachev, the Yeltsin, and the Putin administrations, the Yeltsin obituary columns were largely an exercise in wishful retro-thinking -- and exhibitionism.

By John Helmer in Moscow
It’s a pity Vladimir Lenin was tone deaf, and dismissed music (along with chess) as an entertainment for the ruling class. Had he an ear and taste for classical music (like Karl Marx, who was keen on Beethoven, and Leon Trotsky, who loved Verdi), he might have devised a revolutionary doctrine for the performing arts. This could have protected Russia from the likes of Mstislav Rostropovich the cellist, Nikita Mikhalkov the filmmaker, Valery Gergiev the conductor, and X the theatre director.
I regret I am obliged to avoid using X’s, or his Moscow theatre’s real name, because he and his colleagues are so thin-skinned, so despotic, and so vengeful, they brook no criticism, and would react by attacking the livelihood of a member of my family.

By John Helmer in Moscow

If life were a circus, then the only reason a contemplative man would walk behind an elephant in a ring, wielding bucket and shovel, would be for the money, not for the laughs.

John Lloyd, a onetime Moscow correspondent of the Financial Times, has made many of his colleagues and readers laugh at him. But it was his eulogy upon the death of ex-President Boris Yeltsin, just published by the Financial Times, that has been convincing. Lloyd hasn’t been clowning all this time for laughs. He’s been putting shit in a bucket for the money.

And good money it was, certainly when his then wife headed the Moscow office of a well-known English law firm, and Lloyd filled his Moscow despatches with tales of the good fortune falling from the parapets of the Kremlin for her clientele. There was the odd and embarrassing pratfall; the time, for example, when Lloyd reported, and the FT printed, that Yegor Gaidar had been voted in as prime minister, when that favourite of Lloyd, his wife’s law firm, and the FT had in fact been trounced by Victor Chernomyrdin. Thus did Gaidar’s high political career end – in retrospect, we can now say, for good – while Lloyd was telling the FT audience the reverse.

By John Helmer in Moscow

To understand how and what to buy in a Russian metals company, you need to understand a Soviet joke.

On a visit to Paris, the then Soviet ruler Nikita Khrushchev arranged to visit a brothel. On arriving, he asked the madam, “How much for a room?” “Depends on the room,” she replied. “There are 500-franc rooms, 100-franc rooms, 50-france room, and 1-franc rooms.” “Give me a 1-franc room,” Khrushchev said.

He was then shown to a room, where he sat for ten minutes. Noone came. For twenty minutes, still noone. At the half-hour mark, nothing had happened, and Khrushchev was furious. He picked up the telephone, and roared. The madam appeared swiftly. “This is an outrage,” shouted the First Secretary of the Communist Party. “I’ve been waiting here for half an hour, and noone has shown up!”

By John Helmer in Moscow

Oleg Deripaska is under unexpected personal pressure, at home and abroad, just when his plan to take control of one of the largest bauxite and aluminium producers in the world is close to final government approval. And that is exactly why the trouble for Deripaska is growing now.

Russian government authorization this month of the creation of a monopoly aluminium concern, integrating domestic and foreign bauxite, alumina, and aluminium production assets, has followed a no-objection ruling from the European Commission (EC) in Brussels. The unconditional ruling was issued by the EC on February 1.

By John Helmer in Moscow

Did Nicolas Sarkozy, the small rightwing candidate for President of France, benefit from the brief imprisonment in Lyon of one Russian billionaire, and from the award of a medal, days later in Paris, to another Russian billionaire, who happened to be the business partner of the first?

And was Sarkozy helped by Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, ministre blanchisseur, official custodian of French culture, receiver of kickbacks, and arranger of unorthodox donations to presidential campaign chests?

In short, on January 30, when Donnedieu de Vabres awarded the medal of Officer of the Legion of Arts and Letters to Vladimir Potanin, was this the end to an ingenious quartet of hostage-taking and ransom on the French side, procuring and precious metals on the Russian?

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Ukraine’s ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko said she was ready to head the country’s new government, she told reporters today. Tymoshenko was sacked by President Viktor Yushchenko earlier this month. “I can see that our relations are returning to status quo,” she said.

Rumors are circulating in Moscow about a looming financial default, Novye Izvestia newspaper reports. The default is expected September 21-25 or October 1 at the latest. Some banks and exchange offices are advising clients to keep their dollars and “dump” rubles as long as the exchange rate is appropriate.

Supplies of light-water nuclear reactors to North Korea can only be considered after it dismantles its nuclear program, the Russian foreign minister said Wednesday. Sergei Lavrov said he discussed the issue with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Ukraine’s parliament has rejected the candidacy of Yuri Yekhanurov for prime minister. Yekhanurov won 223 votes, against 226 needed for approval. He was not supported by Communists, the Social and Democratic Party and some other parties.

Deputy head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service Anatoly Golomolzin said the agency might impose sanctions against oil companies that intended to freeze only the retail gasoline price on the domestic market, leaving the wholesale price to further grow.

Russia’s government has raised the export duty on crude oil to $179.9 per ton. The decree, signed by prime minister Mikhail Fradkov, comes into effect on October 1, the government's press service reported.

Today, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov will pay a one-day working visit to Hungary to meet with his Hungarian counterpart Ferenc Gyurcsany and President Laszlo Solyom, RBC has been told by the government's press service.

The Moscow City Court has started hearings of the appeals earlier submitted by the former chief executive of Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev Tuesday.

A move to take control of the world's largest manganese plant in the Ukraine by the Renova group was the trigger for this month's dismissal of the Ukrainian prime minister and her cabinet by President Victor Yushchenko, according to Yushchenko himself and industry sources.

Russia supports an early signing of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the United Nations Sunday. Addressing the 60th session of the UN General Assembly, Lavrov said: "We expect the UN General Assembly to contribute to the fight . . .

The six nations negotiating to put an end to North Korea's nuclear weapons program have adopted a joint statement on the principles of denuclearization, a Chinese official said Monday.

Russia’s state statistics service presented the government an unpleasant surprise. Its reports show that the country’s industrial production growth rates halved from January through August 2005 compared with last year’s figures.

Oil production in the fourth quarter of this year is expected to be 120 million tons of oil and unstable gas condensate, according to the ministry of industry and energy. A decree on the transportation of crude oil, oil products and gas to Russian consumers and abroad was signed by Andrei Reus . . .

In his statement at the high-level plenary meeting of the 60th UN General Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about "the split of civilizations" and the need to overcome it. He used the phrase in the context of "coordinating international cooperation in the fight against terrorism . . .

Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom shortlisted Friday five oil majors to contend for the development of the huge Shtokman natural gas field off the Barents Sea and said it would hold a 51% controlling stake in the project.

On the last day of his working visit to the US, September 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet US President George Bush and managers of the US top oil companies.

Lithuania’s authorities object to plans to build a gas pipeline between Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea, citing environmental concerns. This is the first attempt to block the project, signaling perhaps the beginning of a war by the Baltic states and Poland against the Russian-German gas . . .

Russia’s gold and foreign currency reserves were $151.9 billion on September 9, $1.5 billion up from a week earlier, the central bank of Russia reported. The reserves increased for the third straight week, having added $3.8 billion, or 2.6 percent, over this period.

Prominent Russian politicians have commented on the announcement yesterday by an ex-premier, Mikhail Kasyanov, that he would run in the 2008 presidential election.