Before rushing back home from Dublin amid news of an imminent, massive Russian strike on Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged allies to sever global supply chains feeding Russian militarization.
The Ukrainian leader raised this issue in Ireland where a factory is currently under investigation for allegedly supplying exporting critical raw material to Russian smelters who feed into the aluminum supply chain of the country’s arms makers.
“Every ton of raw material that ends in Russia is used against us. I do hope whatever we are doing now, we are cutting every possibility, every sphere for Russia to build up, to militarize itself,” he said.
“When their economy is shrinking, we can see that immediately,” he told reporters. “Just as it is shrinking, Russia’s ability to perform massive attacks decreases, so we are really interested in the results of this investigation.”
The Irish government launched the probe into Aughinish Alumina, a refinery owned by Russian aluminum giant Rusal, after the publication of an investigation by OCCRP and partners in which reporters used leaked transaction data to reveal how the refinery's alumina feeds into the supply chains of EU-sanctioned Russian weapons manufacturers arming Putin’s forces in Ukraine.
Zelensky was in Dublin to mark the beginning of Ireland’s six-month rotating EU Council presidency when he was called home. The overnight attack took 13 lives and injured dozens, leaving buildings reduced to rubble after being hit by drones and ballistic missiles.
It gave weight to his address in Dublin Castle where he criticised the EU’s failure to sanction companies operating in Europe, under the control of Russian oligarchs.
“They keep supplying the Russians with essential materials even now,” he told politicians and diplomats.
Zelenskyy’s address follows a ruling by Sweden’s tax authority, which determined that all of Rusal’s operations in Europe, which includes Aughinish Alumina, should be subject to EU sanctions targeting Russia and asset freezes, OCCRP partner the Irish Times reported on Wednesday.
The mining giant Rusal, which owns European aluminum companies, remains under the control of its founder, oligarch Oleg Deripaska - a billionaire and a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. After the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Deripaska was sanctioned by the EU for his alleged involvement in companies working with the Russian defense sector.
The Swedish tax authority claims that Deripaska retains ultimate control of Kubikenborg Aluminium AB (Kubal), a Rusal-owned smelter that relies on materials from Ireland’s Aughinish Alumina. Deripaska, it claims, controls Kubal through Rusal and its parent company, EN+ Group.
Although Deripaska previously lowered his ownership stake so the U.S. would lift the 2018 U.S. sanctions, the Swedish Tax Agency labeled that restructuring "purely formal."
It pointed to Vladimir Putin’s 2023 "Decree No. 16," a counter-sanctions order allowing Russian firms to disregard shareholders from "unfriendly states." By effectively excluding Western voters, this decree boosts Deripaska’s controlling stake to 53% and his board voting power to 70%.
Consequently, the Swedish authority ruled that EN+ and Rusal assets should be subject to EU sanctions. Sweden therefore froze 56.8 million SEK (5.1 million euro) in Kubal’s tax account, while police arrested two senior executives in a separate sanctions-evasion probe.
Kubal, Sweden's sole primary aluminum producer, has appealed the judgment, warning of severe regional economic fallout.
The Swedish move adds to the mounting pressure on Ireland and the EU to halt alumina exports to Russia.
On Thursday, the European Green Party urged the Irish government not to use the ongoing national investigation as an excuse for delay.
“Where there is a credible risk that European-produced strategic raw materials are fuelling Russia’s war machine, exports must stop,” the party said.
It also called for “a Europe-wide review into whether there are any other export loopholes to Russia in the EU, and for a review of sanctions listings to ensure that all relevant sectors and channels are fully included.”
While Ireland's Department of Enterprise declined to comment on the active investigation, Aughinish Alumina maintained that Deripaska has no operational control, asserting full compliance with EU laws and denying that its Irish-refined alumina enters the Russian weapons supply chain.
