More than 80% of Irish-made alumina was exported to Russia in the first quarter of 2026, the highest proportion since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Irish Times reported on May 30.

The exports directly contradicted the Irish government's claim that the plant primarily serves European industry however, as Russian aluminium is not sanctioned, technically the business does not conflict with the extensive sanctions regime on Russia.

Only 0.6% of the alumina went to other EU states, according to the Irish Times. The plant, Aughinish Alumina, Europe's largest alumina refinery, located on the wind-swept shores of the Shannon estuary in County Limerick, is owned by United Company Rusal — Russia's largest aluminium producer — whose ultimate parent is EN+ Group, founded by Oleg Deripaska, a metals oligarch sanctioned by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union personally.

An investigation by the Irish Times, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and other European outlets, drawing on confidential documents, customs data, transport records, satellite imagery and financial records, established the full supply chain. The Irish alumina arrives in Russia at Novy Port, near St Petersburg, is loaded onto trains and transported almost 5,000 kilometres east to Rusal-owned smelters in Siberia. A large portion goes to the Rusal smelter in Krasnoyarsk, one of the biggest aluminium manufacturing plants in the world.

The aluminium produced at those smelters is then sold through a Moscow-based trading company to dozens of Russian arms manufacturers — companies that produce tanks, cruise missiles and bombers used in Russia's war against Ukraine. Ukraine's embassy in Ireland said the links between Irish-made alumina and dozens of Russian weapons manufacturers must be treated "with the utmost concern."

The EU remains heavily dependent on the import of Russian aluminium. A ban on Russian imports was considered as part of the thirteenth sanctions package, but dropped as unworkable under heavy lobbying from EU industry. However, limited sanctions on aluminium were included in EU’s fourteenth sanctions package adopted in 2024, included bans on imports of Russian aluminium, copper and nickel.

Russian metals producers have responded by integrating with Chinese value chains. In 2023, Rusal bought a 30% stake in Chinese alumina producer Hebei Wenfeng New Materials for $267mn. Rusal, heavily hit by the war in Ukraine, lost access to about 40% of its alumina supplies due to an Australian ban and the shutdown of its Ukrainian refinery in Mykolaiv, which was nationalised by Kyiv in 2023.

Dublin's position

Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin has argued that sanctioning Aughinish Alumina in the EU's next round of measures would be "self-defeating," harming Europe's economy more than Russia's. Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs has said the country "remains unequivocal in its continuing support for Ukraine" while noting that alumina is not a sanctioned good and therefore its export to Russia is not restricted.

The Russian company has extensively lobbied the Irish government, warning of the risk to employment at the Limerick plant since the invasion in 2022. Lobbying records show the company declared representations to senior politicians and officials on ten occasions over the last four years, including earlier this year. Aughinish issued a fresh warning of "potential unintended consequences" of possible trade restrictions.

Growing pressure

Dublin's position is becoming increasingly isolated within the EU. Belgium's foreign minister Maxime Prévot has said he will push for sanctions on the Limerick plant at EU level. The European Commission has come under pressure from a sizeable number of MEPs from Renew and the European People's Party — the European political groupings of Ireland's own Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael — who want action to cut off Aughinish's ability to export to Russia. It is understood Fianna Fáil has argued within the Renew group that the plant should not be targeted in future sanctions rounds.

The contradiction is pointed. Ireland's ruling parties are lobbying Brussels against sanctioning a plant that their own MEPs' political groups are pushing to sanction. Then-MP Thomas Pringle captured the situation bluntly in April 2022: "We appear to be protecting the Aughinish Alumina plant from sanctions. That is hypocritical of us. If we need to protect that plant, the Government should be considering taking it over straight away and taking it out of the hands of the oligarchs." Four years later, the government has done neither.

Exports of all Irish goods to Russia jumped from €539 mn in 2021 to a record €836 mn last year, according to Eurostat figures. The demand for Irish alumina has increased even as Russia's civilian economy stagnates — precisely because Rusal lost access to its Ukrainian alumina plant when the front line overran it.