John Whelan: How Aughinish in Limerick could yet be caught by sanctions on oligarch Deripaska

The Aughinish Alumina Refinery on the Shannon Estuary near Foynes Co Limerick is owned by Russian company Rusal.

The outlook for Russian-owned Aughinish Alumina and over 450 employees in Co. Limerick has become increasingly grim in the past week, as the EU, UK and US tightened its economic stranglehold on Russia. 

The EU increased its sanctions to hit oligarchs and prominent business people who have a significant economic role in supporting Vladimir Putin’s regime - notably in the metallurgical, agriculture, pharmaceutical, telecom and digital industries. 

Those designated are subject to an asset freeze and EU citizens and companies are forbidden from making funds available to them.

The UK government also extended its list of sanctions on Russian businesspeople in the past few days to include Roman Abramovich, and effectively seizing his Chelsea FC. 

Britain also sanctioned Mr Abramovich’s one-time business partner, industrialist Oleg Deripaska, a move which may force the Government here to enforce sanctions that would affect Aughinish Alumina, which Mr Deripaska partly owns. 

The Limerick facility is a key part of the Rusal metals group operations. 

Crimea punishment

Mr Deripaska fell foul of US sanctions in recent years after Russia annexed Crimea. 

Former British government minister Greg Barker, has bowed to pressure and quit as chairman of the EN+ Group, a London stock market conglomerate that owns Rusal.

His departure has the potential to unravel the special arrangement he had brokered with the US government officials in 2019, which enabled the lifting of sanctions imposed by the US government on EN+ and Rusal. 

Mr Deripaska at the time controlled a majority shareholding in EN+ and Rusal at the time. 

The settlement involved Mr Deripaska relinquishing his majority shareholding of the  the group, with Mr Barker stepping in as executive chairman.

The fig-leaf solution brokered by Mr Barker came amid turmoil on the global aluminium market that had been sparked by the US sanctions and that had hit US industry hard. 

At the time, the Crimea annexation by Russia was seen as a lesser sin. However, international outrage is such that this fig leaf is no longer likely to work. 

The Irish Government should not be found wanting at this time.

It can take courage from the way Britain moved in on Chelsea Football Club,  effectively nationalising its assets until it can be sold to acceptable investors.

Any moves to freeze assets will be carefully watched by many Irish corporates and their investors, who may have assets located in the Russian Federation. 

Ireland’s accumulated foreign direct investment into Russia stands at over €17bn,  according to Central Bank of Russia figures from June last year. 

The Russian central figures suggest that the investments include €8.9bn in manufacturing and €4.8bn in financial assets, which probably covers aircraft leasing.

The Irish Government may be embarrassed into taking more immediate action on sanctioned individuals and their assets located in Ireland.

This may follow the EU's roll-out in the past few days of a whistle-blower tool to facilitate the reporting of possible sanctions violations. 

This is a secure online platform, which whistle-blowers from around the world can use to anonymously report past, current, or planned EU sanctions violations. 

The European Commission, which manages the whistle-blower tool, is committed to protecting the identity of whistle-blowers who take personal risks to report sanctions violations. 

• John Whelan is an expert on Irish trade