The Ukrainian Embassy in Ireland has issued a formal statement expressing serious concern over continuing exports of alumina from the Aughinish Alumina plant in Limerick to Russia, as the Irish government conducts an investigation and the European Commission declines to include the facility in its latest sanctions package.
Ukraine’s embassy said the exports — which it claims are extensively used by Russia’s military-industrial complex — have grown significantly since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, rising from €196 million in 2021 to €318 million in 2025 and making Russia the largest single destination for Irish alumina exports. The embassy linked the material directly to Russian weapons production, naming Iskander-M ballistic missiles, Tsirkon hypersonic missiles, Kh-101 and Kalibr cruise missiles and Shahed-136 attack drones as systems that use aluminium derived from processed alumina.
The Aughinish plant, Europe’s largest alumina refinery, has been owned since 2007 by Rusal — the Russian aluminium giant founded by Oleg Deripaska, a close associate of President Vladimir Putin who has himself been subject to repeated Western sanctions. The company operating the plant says it complies fully with all applicable EU laws, sanctions and export controls, and has implemented a robust sanctions compliance framework across its supply chain.
The controversy deepened after an investigation by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project — a collective that includes The Irish Times — found that alumina from Aughinish was processed into aluminium and sold through a Moscow-based trader to clients including more than 40 EU-sanctioned Russian arms manufacturers. The European Commission nonetheless decided against including the plant in a recent sanctions package despite calls from nearly 40 MEPs.
An accuracy dispute over the scale of Russian exports has also emerged. Ireland’s Central Statistics Office received data from the operating company indicating more than 80% of Aughinish exports went to Russia, a figure the company now says should be closer to 45% and is being corrected. Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke said the discrepancy in data supplied to the CSO was now being rectified.
Minister of State Niall Collins defended the government’s approach, saying the Department of Enterprise review would be completed and furnished to the European Commission before any collective EU decision was taken. He also criticised some media reporting on the issue, though his remarks appeared directed at sources beyond the OCCRP, which has a long track record of award-winning investigations into corporate and financial data.
The plant employs 475 staff directly and supports several hundred more indirect jobs, complicating any decision to restrict its operations.
