A RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRE industrialist who owns a large aluminium plant in Limerick has been sanctioned by the UK government.
Oleg Deripaska owns the Irish company Auginish Alumina based in the Askeaton area of Co Limerick through his company Rusal, the world’s second-largest aluminium company.
The sanctions include an asset freeze, a travel ban and a ban on British companies and individuals from doing business with Deripaska’s businesses.
Located near Foynes on the Shannon Estuary, Auginish Alumina employs 450 people at the facility, which includes a port and a large alumina refinery.
The site was targeted by protestors in a paint attack earlier this month. Gardaí confirmed the incident at the time but said that no arrests had been made although investigations are ongoing.
Worth a reported €2.4 billion, Deripaska has close links to the British establishment and a large property London property portfolio.
In 2008, he was embroiled in a row involving Labour grandee Lord Peter Mandelson and then-shadow chancellor George Osborne.
Both men met Mr Deripaska on his yacht, while Mr Osborne reportedly attempted to solicit a donation for the Tory party from the oligarch – something he denied at the time.
Announcing the sanctions against Deripaska and other Russian billionaires this morning, including Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the Government targeted the oligarchs to “ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine”.
“With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression,” she said.
“The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.”
Deripaska has also been on the US sanctions list since 2018.
— Additional reporting by PA and Niall O’Connor
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