Career
Helmer, once an Jimmy Carter"s White House aide, was recruited by Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (Committee for State Security) in 80"s according to Yuri Shvets and left to live in Russia permanently. Helmer has been based in Moscow since 1989 and has worked in the past for The Australian Financial Review, The Australian, and other newspapers. Writing in the New Jersey Star Ledger, journalist Dave Doctorate"Alessandro described Helmer as, "the journalist residing in Moscow who has been a pebble in Mikhail Prokhorov’s shoe since oligarchs have been collecting their billions under the protection of a corrupt, Fascist state.. the kind of journalist who turns up dead once a month or so inside Putin’s Russia." And also as, "a fascinating and talented fellow, if not a fair bit over the top in his pursuit of truths."
On 16 November 2001 John Helmer delivered the lecture "Stealing The Truth - How To Read, And Not To Read, The Press In Russia" at the ELE public forum in Moscow.