| |
Ireland Pressured Over Russia Shipments11/12 06:09
AUGHINISH, Ireland (AP) -- The Karin, a 400-foot-long (120-meter-long) cargo
ship, sat moored this week on Ireland's boggy River Shannon estuary. Soon it
set sail for Russia laden with a white powder that can be forged into weapons
vital to Moscow's war on Ukraine.
Alumina, the key ingredient in aluminum, goes into everything from
toothpaste and lipstick to missiles and drones. A Russian-owned plant in
southern Ireland is Europe's biggest alumina refinery and regularly sends
shiploads of the substance directly to St. Petersburg and other Russian ports.
Almost five years into Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, alumina has
escaped European sanctions intended to hobble Russia's economy. That leaves the
refinery in Aughinish free to send its product to Russia, where some ends up in
weapons, experts say.
"The material is clearly ending up in military supplies," said Irish
lawmaker Ivana Bacik, who leads the opposition Labour Party. "It would be
unthinkable for Ireland to be contributing, even in that indirect way, to
Putin's war machine."
Ireland is facing calls to stop the shipments as dozens of European leaders
gather in Dublin this week to discuss support for Ukraine. A summit of the
47-nation European Political Community on Thursday is being followed by a
meeting of European Union leaders.
Irish government minister Niall Collins told The Associated Press that
"there's absolutely no evidence" the material is ending up in military supply
chains, though the government has declined to make public the findings of its
investigation into the alumina shipments.
Aughinish Alumina said in a statement its product "has no connection to the
Russian military supply chain" and that it hired an independent company to
provide monthly audits to Irish authorities for "enhanced traceability."
Alumina is key to making beer cans, bombs, lipstick and missiles
Alumina is a chemical compound refined from bauxite, a red ore mined
primarily in Guinea, Australia and China. The chalky white substance can be
smelted into aluminum, which is then forged with other, rarer elements to make
strong, heat-resistant and flexible alloys used in missiles and aircraft;
aluminum is also used in the manufacture of rocket fuel and explosives.
The Aughinish plant in County Limerick was built in the 1970s and bought in
2007 by Rusal, a Russian aluminum producer. The company was founded, and is
still part-owned, by Oleg Deripaska, a sanctioned oligarch with ties to Russian
President Vladimir Putin. Rusal makes virtually all of Russia's aluminum,
according to the U.S. and Australian governments.
While many cargo ships leave Aughinish bound for Europe and beyond, a steady
stream of them heads straight to the port of St. Petersburg, according to data
from MarineTraffic analyzed by AP.
The activist group Alumina 22, which is lobbying to sanction the trade in
alumina to Russia, estimated that between March and October some 491,307 metric
tons of alumina from Ireland was shipped to Russia.
These shipments have grown in importance. Since Russia's full-scale invasion
of Ukraine in 2022, two alumina factories -- one in Australia, the other in
Ukraine -- stopped exporting to Russia, crimping its supplies by about 40%,
according to a 2026 report by the Economic Security Council of Ukraine, or ESCU.
Roughly 17% of Rusal's alumina supply now comes from Ireland, according to
ESCU.
An investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and
the Irish Times published earlier this year found that alumina from Aughinish
is smelted in Russia into aluminum, with some of it sold to a metals trading
company that supplies Russian defense contractors.
"Virtually everything that comes from Rusal is with a high probability
ending up in the hands of Russian military enterprises," said Olena Yurchenko,
director of analytics, research and investigations at the ESCU.
Ukraine and EU nations call for sanctions on alumina exports to Russia
Standing next to Irish Prime Minister Michel Martin in Dublin in June,
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said "Unfortunately, there are
companies in Europe that are owned or effectively controlled by Russia and its
sanctioned oligarchs. They keep supplying the aggressor with essential
materials, even now."
Martin acknowledged that "we do not want to be in a position where material
emanating from a plant in Ireland goes to support the Russian war machine."
Ireland has not found evidence that is happening -- but also no proof it
isn't, said Enterprise Minister Peter Burke, who is in charge of the country's
sanctions enforcement. He said in July it had been impossible to prove Rusal's
assertion that alumina from Ireland is only used to make aluminum for export
from Russia.
The Irish government hasn't published its findings, but it handed them to
the European Commission, which drafts EU sanctions packages.
EU sanctions envoy David O'Sullivan said there is little doubt that "the
alumina goes to smelters in Russia who produce stuff which undoubtedly goes at
least in part to the military-industrial complex."
"I've read the government report. Personally, I think there's no doubt the
investigative journalists got it right," he said last month in Dublin at a
meeting organized by the Institute of International and European Affairs.
The European Parliament in July passed a non-binding motion calling for a
ban on alumina exports to Russia. But alumina was not included in the EU's 21st
sanctions package against Russia that month. The EU's executive European
Commission, which draws up sanctions packages, is now sounding out member
nations about the Irish alumina exports. Sanctions must be agreed upon
unanimously by the bloc's 27 countries.
A commission spokesperson said in July that the bloc's sanctions policy was
"a delicate balance" between thwarting Russia's war effort and limiting
"negative impacts" on EU member nations, "especially considering that alumina
is a critical raw material."
Amid scrutiny of alumina exports, a debate ensues about protecting jobs
Supporters of the plant point to the hundreds of jobs it provides, and to
its role as a key source of alumina for European countries. Keeping supply
lines open is especially important because of the chokehold on cargo traffic
through the Strait of Hormuz caused by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
Collins, who represents County Limerick in Ireland's parliament, said
Ireland has been "hugely resolute in our support for the Ukrainians, and
Ukraine hasn't provided any evidence that Aughinish is doing anything adverse."
Opposition politicians remain skeptical. Bacik's left-of-center Labour Party
supports a temporary nationalization of the refinery, similar to when Ireland
seized banks in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. She says the refinery
can ban exports to Russia and find other eager customers in Europe.
"We need to see much stronger action being taken on this from other EU
countries if the Irish government isn't willing to do the right thing here,"
she said.
In Foynes, the wind-swept port town beside the plant, many work at Aughinish
or know someone who does. But some locals have mixed feelings.
"It's too big a business for them to close it down," said retired docker Joe
Hanlon. "Too much employment for the government to get involved."
But he said "of course they should," if Ireland wants "to stop the war on
Ukraine."
|
|
