Full version of the article is published on Dagens Nyheter
Despite the introduction of 14 packages of sanctions against Russia, the restrictions have not yet affected its aluminum production. As a result, the Russian aluminum giant Rusal not only has not been subject to any sanctions, but also continues to have subsidiaries in the EU.
Olesia Horiainova, deputy director of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center, writes about this in her column for the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
After oil and gas, metals account for a significant portion of Russia’s export earnings. According to the Reuters news agency, last year Russian exports of metals and metal products brought in about $60 billion, although this year it was down 15 percent compared to 2022. But the EU, unlike the United States and the United Kingdom, has yet to impose effective sanctions on Russian metals such as aluminum, nickel and copper.
Russian oligarchs Oleg Deripaska, who is subject to EU sanctions, and Viktor Vekselberg are the main recipients of Rusal’s revenues. These oligarchs’ companies, including Rusal, are active in the Russian defense industry. There is also information that Rusal is recruiting so-called volunteers to fight against Ukraine.
The fact that the company and one of its owners, Viktor Vekselberg, have not yet been subject to EU sanctions is the main reason why some European companies continue to buy Rusal’s products and its subsidiaries still operate in Sweden and Ireland.
In particular, on the Scandinavian peninsula, this is the Kubal aluminum factory in Sundsvall, the only primary aluminum producer in Sweden. Kubal’s management does not hide the fact that the recent U.S. sanctions may even benefit the company, as the price of aluminum produced in the EU has increased.
The issue of nationalising Kubalverket has already been raised by the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center, the Swedish-Ukrainian association Nordic Ukraine Forum, and is also advocated by moderate MP Jorgen Berglund and supported by the Centre Party.
At the same time, the EU must finally close off the possibility of importing Russian steel products to Europe, thus preventing oligarchs like Deripaska and Vekselberg from continuing to profit from their assets on the European continent and channeling them into war.
This is currently the only way to weaken the Russian economy and achieve a turnaround in the war that threatens the security of the entire European continent.