There is ‘no indication’ that hundreds of jobs at a Russian-owned refinery in Limerick are under threat, despite being impacted by international sanctions, a Government minister has said.

The Aughinish Alumina plant, which is Europe’s largest alumina refinery, was cut off from the EU Emissions Trading System after European ministers signed off on sanctions against Russian individuals and companies.

Russian billionaire Oleg Derispaska (pictured above), who has a 45% share in the company that controls Aughinish Alumina, was among a list of Russian oligarchs to face additional sanctions from the UK government.

Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich and five of Russia’s other "wealthiest and most influential oligarchs" were also sanctioned in an effort to further punish allies of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Limerick TD and Junior Minister Niall Collins, said: "Myself and the Government are in regular contact with the company. We’re working with them to ensure that as far as possible, any sanctions developed by the EU, in so far as we can, don’t impact locally in Limerick.

In Association with

"There’s no indication that there’s any threat to jobs and the Government will do everything it can to work with the company right throughout this."

It also emerged yesterday that companies linked to Roman Abramovich raised billions of euro from companies
listed on the Irish bond market.

In announcing its decision yesterday, the UK government cited Mr Abramovich’s interests in London-headquartered steel manufacturing and mining company, Evraz plc, which mainly has its operations in Russia.

Evraz plc raised $750million (€678m) on bonds listed on the Dublin market in 2017, and a further $700million two years later. The bonds mature in 2023 and 2024 respectively.