The EU bans aluminum exports to Russia—but not alumina, the powder from which aluminum is smelted. On 26 June, B4Ukraine and five partner organizations formally demanded that gap be closed in the next EU sanctions package, citing evidence that Ireland’s largest alumina refinery ships hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of the material to Russian smelters whose customers include weapons manufacturers.
Aughinish Alumina refinery is owned by Russian aluminum giant RUSAL, whose controlling shareholder is Oleg Deripaska.
Ireland’s Aughinish Alumina refinery—Europe’s largest—is owned by Russian aluminum giant RUSAL, whose controlling shareholder is Oleg Deripaska, sanctioned by the EU following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. RUSAL itself is not sanctioned, a distinction that has allowed intra-company alumina shipments to continue uninterrupted.
The six signatories—B4Ukraine, the Economic Security Council of Ukraine (ESCU), the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission (NAKO), the State Capture Accountability Project, the Dekleptocracy Project, and the International Partnership for Human Rights—represent a coalition of more than 100 civil society organizations.
They want the EU to add alumina under HS code 2818.20 to the restricted-goods list under Council Regulation 833/2014 and introduce controls against rerouting through third countries.
The call arrives days before Ireland assumes the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU on 1 July 2026, giving Dublin direct influence over Council discussions, including negotiations on the next sanctions package.
Almost $308 million shipped to Russia
According to trade data compiled by ESCU and published by B4Ukraine, Aughinish shipped 540,497 tonnes of alumina worth more than $307.85 million to three RUSAL entities between April 2024 and March 2025: RUSAL’s Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant, RUSAL Trading House, and the Bratsk Aluminum Plant. Russia’s share of Aughinish’s exports rose from 23% in 2020 to 68% in 2024, as Euromaidan Press reported in May.
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Alumina requires no export license under EU or Irish law, and Ireland has no unilateral mechanism to restrict it—trade policy with third countries is an EU competence. The coalition argues that Ireland’s most effective lever is therefore political: pressing the European Commission and fellow member states to include alumina in future sanctions.
Supply-chain evidence
The coalition traces a supply chain from Aughinish’s RUSAL smelters to Moscow-based aluminum trader ASK LLC. Since 2022, more than 100 Russian defense-sector companies have purchased aluminum from ASK, including 40 entities currently sanctioned by the EU.
One ASK customer is the P.I. Plandin Arzamas Instrument-Making Plant, which manufactures BDG-1M damping gyroscope units—precision guidance components of the Kh-101 cruise missile, used extensively by Russia in strikes against Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure.
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Because smelters blend alumina from multiple sources, reporters could not match a specific batch of Irish alumina to a specific weapon.
The link between Irish alumina and the Kh-101 is circumstantial, not direct. Because smelters continuously blend alumina from multiple sources, reporters working on an OCCRP-led investigation that informed the coalition’s call could not match a specific batch of Irish alumina to a specific weapon.
“Although this evidence constitutes a supply chain inference rather than direct proof of end-use,” B4Ukraine said, “the convergence of trade data, procurement records, and technical specifications establishes a compelling basis for regulatory action.”
Ireland faces pressure
The coalition is also asking Irish authorities to examine a 2024 restructuring that transferred ownership of the refinery operator, Limerick Alumina Refining Ltd, from Libertatem Materials Ltd to Libertatem Investments Ltd, and to determine whether it triggered obligations under foreign investment screening or corporate ownership disclosure rules.
Irish authorities have maintained that alumina is not a sanctioned product and that its export to Russia is therefore not restricted.
Aughinish has said it complies with all applicable EU sanctions, export-control, and trade rules; Irish authorities have maintained that alumina is not a sanctioned product and that its export to Russia is therefore not restricted.
The EU’s 20th sanctions package, adopted on 23 April, expanded restrictions on Russian banks, energy infrastructure, and military suppliers but did not add alumina to the restricted-goods list.
