{"id":562177,"date":"2026-07-22T08:07:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T08:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/562177\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T08:07:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T08:07:12","slug":"zelenskiy-asked-ursula-von-der-leyen-for-eu-sanctions-on-aughinish-exports-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/562177\/","title":{"rendered":"Zelenskiy asked Ursula von der Leyen for EU sanctions on Aughinish exports \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy<\/a> appealed for economic sanctions to bar Aughinish Alumina<\/a> from exporting raw material to Russia during private talks with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian wartime leader said it was his belief that alumina produced in the Co Limerick plant was helping to fuel the Russian war effort, according to one senior official briefed on the discussion afterwards.<\/p>\n

It is understood Zelenskiy asked the EU to introduce an export ban cutting off the sale of alumina \u2013 the raw material used to make aluminium \u2013 to Russia during a closed-door discussion with von der Leyen when the commission president visited Kyiv last week.<\/p>\n

The request for EU-level sanctions to choke off the supply of alumina to Russia was one of a number of points raised by Zelenskiy in his talks with the top EU politician.<\/p>\n

An investigation by the Department of Enterprise examining Aughinish Alumina\u2019s exports to Russia is being finalised. The Government has committed to share the findings with the commission, which is the EU\u2019s executive arm that proposes and oversees economic sanctions targeting Moscow. <\/p>\n

The investigation was launched following reporting by The Irish Times<\/a>, in co-operation with the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, that drew on leaked documents to detail how Aughinish Alumina is shipping vast amounts of alumina to smelters in Russia, where it is then sold to a company supplying aluminium to Russian arms and missile manufacturers.<\/p>\n

From the Shannon to Siberia: How alumina from a Limerick refinery enters Russia\u2019s weapons supply chain<\/p>\n

\"occrpAughinish 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The review is expected to find there is insufficient evidence to conclude Aughinish is supplying the Russian arms industry, but that it is not possible to say alumina from the plant wasn\u2019t ending up making Russian weapons.<\/p>\n

The Shannon refinery is expected to feature in discussions between Zelenskiy and Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin in an upcoming visit he is scheduled to make to Kyiv.<\/p>\n

Zelenskiy expressed concern exports from the Irish plant were aiding the Russian military machine when he met the Taoiseach in Dublin, on the margins of a ceremony marking the start of Ireland\u2019s Council of the EU presidency earlier this month.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Aughinish Alumina report not expected to be published before being sent to EU commissionOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Aughinish Alumina report will not rule out that material is used in Russian weaponsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The European Commission has not proposed including alumina products, or an export ban, in any of the rounds of economic sanctions levelled against Moscow so far.<\/p>\n

Sanctions are intended to make it harder for Russia to keep fighting in Ukraine, by cutting off its supply of key materials and the revenue Moscow receives from the sale of oil, gas and other products.<\/p>\n

The economic restrictions are proposed by the commission and must be unanimously approved by all 27 EU states.<\/p>\n

Negotiations to agree on the union\u2019s 21st round of sanctions are continuing after weeks of talks that have become difficult and increasingly divisive at times. <\/p>\n

Greece, Germany, Portugal and Austria have all sought concessions to protect certain domestic businesses and industries from the knock-on effects of blacklisting additional sections of Russia\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

There is a diplomatic push in Brussels to clinch a deal on a watered-down package of sanctions this week.<\/p>\n

Multiple sources in the commission said it was highly likely sanctioning alumina, thus making it illegal to supply the product to Russia, would feature as an option in the next batch of draft sanctions proposed in the autumn. <\/p>\n

The Government has repeatedly said it would not stand for a scenario where Ireland is found to be in any way supplying material producing Russian missiles launched at Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Aughinish Alumina has warned that sanctioning its Russian-bound shipments could force the industrial plant to shut, threatening hundreds of jobs in the Foynes area and its flow of material provided to European heavy industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealed for economic sanctions to bar Aughinish Alumina from exporting raw material to Russia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[163884,61,60,43,1713,58419],"class_list":["post-562177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-aughinish-alumina","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","tag-volodymyr-zelenskiy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}