A close associate of Putin in Ireland claims the sanctions will be disastrous

In a sharply worded letter to trade associations last week, he wrote that “given the experience of 2018” and “current realities” such as high energy costs and scarcity of raw materials, driving such a major player out of the aluminum market could have “catastrophic consequences” both for “the European downstream sector as well as for end users”.

Doubts surrounded Aughinish Alumina’s future four years ago when separate trade sanctions imposed on Rusal by the US forced major customers to review their contracts with the company.

This threatened the future of hundreds of jobs in West Limerick, forcing the Irish government to make several interventions in efforts to save the plant.

The alumina extraction facility employs 500 workers at its Aughinish facility, but also supports hundreds of other local jobs in the Midwest.

In the letter, Mr. Nikitin indicated that the company quickly undertook significant restructuring and ownership changes in response to the 2018 sanctions, which reduced Mr. Nikitin Deripaska s majority stake in Aughinish.

Mister Deripaska (54), founder of Rusal, is a close associate of Vladimir Putin and holds a 49 percent stake in Aughinish clay .

He is currently on the UK sanctions lists for an asset freeze, travel ban and business restrictions.

Mr Nikitin said the company also agreed to “unprecedented transparency and an independent management structure.

“Rusal is not used by Mr Deripaska‘ and he can derive ‘no financial advantage’ from his participation, said Mr. Nikitin.