EU parliament pushes to end Ireland's alumina exports to Russia
Non-binding motion piles pressure on Brussels over Aughinish shipments
The European Parliament has passed a non-binding motion calling on the European Commission to sanction the sale of alumina to Russia, increasing pressure over exports from Ireland.
The symbolic vote, backed by a majority of MEPs, follows an investigation by The Irish Times and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project that found the Aughinish Alumina plant shipping large volumes of alumina to smelters in Russia. The resulting aluminium was sold to a Moscow-based trading company, ASK, whose 2024 customer list included more than 40 EU-sanctioned companies, many tied to Russian defence conglomerate Rostec. Since 2023 more than half of the plant's alumina exports have gone to Rusal-owned smelters in Russia, which sold over $650m of aluminium to ASK, though no single batch could be traced to a specific weapon.
The parliament has no formal role in setting sanctions, which must be proposed by the Commission and approved unanimously by member states, and the Commission has held off given Aughinish's role as a major supplier to European industry. Irish ministers said a government report on whether the plant's products end up in Russian military equipment would be completed within days and shared with Brussels, adding that Dublin had never sought any leeway or lobbied on the company's behalf.
