The European Commission is not expected to rush into a decision about whether exports of raw materials from Aughinish Alumina to Russia should be cut off by economic sanctions, The Irish Times understands.
The Government’s confidential report investigating the Co Limerick plant shows the Rusal-owned company has become increasingly dependent on selling alumina to Russia since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, as demand from other European countries declined due to concerns about Aughinish’s Russian ties and ownership.
The unpublished report, seen by The Irish Times, could not find evidence proving alumina exported by Aughinish was ultimately used by Russian arms producers and defence contractors, but officials said their investigation was hamstrung by a lack of access to information about activities inside Russia and reliable internal trade data.
Reporting by The Irish Times and a consortium of European media outlets revealed vast amounts of alumina refined in Aughinish was being shipped to smelters based in Russia making aluminium, which is sold to ASK, a Moscow trading company known to supply the alloy to Russian arms and missile manufacturers.
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The Department of Enterprise, which carried out the inquiry, said it did not have access to “leaked financial data” the investigative journalists had relied upon. It had not been possible to find out who ASK was selling aluminium to, “despite the Department’s best efforts”, officials wrote.
From the Shannon to Siberia: How alumina from a Limerick refinery enters Russia’s weapons supply chain
- Aughinish Alumina in Co Limerick supplies vast amounts of raw materials to Russian aluminium smelters, according to an investigation by The Irish Times and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
- Read the full investigation here.
The report confirmed shipments from Aughinish Alumina to Russia “have significantly increased since 2020 and at a more pronounced level since 2022”, the year Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
The Government shared its findings with the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm that proposes laws and oversees the bloc’s regime of sanctions intended to choke Russia’s wartime economy.
Officials in Brussels will consider whether to propose sanctions on alumina, in effect barring Aughinish from selling the material to Russia, in the union’s next round of sanctions.
The EU has previously refrained from sanctioning Aughinish’s exports to Russia, because of the important role the Co Limerick facility plays supplying European industry as well.
EU member states – who must unanimously approve new sanctions – signed off on the 21st round targeting Russia last week, after several weeks of fractious talks.
Several proposed measures were removed or watered down, following push back from Greece, Germany and Portugal, to protect their shipping and seafood-processing industries who continue to trade with Russia.
Work is likely to begin in September to draw up options for the 22nd package of sanctions. That will involve discussions between the commission and national governments, known as “confessionals”, where Brussels can sound out support or opposition to possible measures.
The “viability” of Aughinish would be put at risk if alumina exports to Russia were subject to EU-level sanctions, the department’s report warned.
The company is owned by Russian metals giant Rusal, which Swedish tax authorities recently concluded remains under the control of sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
The Government’s report shows the company has become increasingly reliant on the Russian market. Sales to several European countries have dropped significantly, which the department attributed to concerns about its Rusal ownership.
Only 1 per cent of Aughinish Alumina’s exports went to the Netherlands last year, down from 17 per cent in 2020, the report said.
During the same period exports to France, where Aughinish supplies a large aluminium smelter in Dunkirk, decreased from 35 per cent to 23 per cent of the Co Limerick plant’s business.
Rusal had compensated for this loss of business in Europe “by exporting to another arm of Rusal within Russia” and selling to new markets in Africa, the unpublished report said.
Aughinish Alumina has previously warned the Government that EU sanctions would force the closure of the plant and the loss of several hundred jobs.
On Sunday, Minister of State for Agriculture Niall Collins said suggestions Aughinish Alumina could redirect exports away from Russia were “simplistic”. He said a third party could ensure Irish products are not being used in the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine.
He also argued that any decisions “can’t be self-defeating” or inflict damage on the Irish economy or the European economy.
Collins, who represents the Limerick County constituency where the plant provides hundreds of direct jobs, also said on RTÉ radio that there were “commercial and legal” reasons why a Government report on exports from the plant could not be published.
