Who is the Russian oligarch behind Aughinish owner Rusal?

Oleg Deripaska’s name is well-known to most Russians. One of the country’s most powerful businessmen, he began amassing his fortune in the final years of the Soviet Union. As the planned economy crumbled and Russia stumbled into capitalism, Deripaska placed his bets on metals. The founder of Rusal, which owns Aughinish Alumina plant in Co Limerick, Deripaska officially stood down as its leader seven years ago but remains a key figure in Russia's economic and political affairs. The aluminium empire Born in 1968, Deripaska grew up in Russia’s southern region of Krasnodar. He was still in his twenties when the Soviet Union collapsed, opening up unimaginable business opportunities to earlier generations of Russians. He founded his first firm while studying physics at Moscow State University. His Military investment-trading company focused on selling metals abroad. During the early 1990s, he began buying shares of the Sayanogorsk Aluminium Plant in Siberia. Sayanogorsk Aluminium Smelter is Russia's largest producer of aluminium alloys and one of Rusal's core sites for testing. By 1994, he had secured a controlling stake and, at the age of 26, became the plant's director. The exact details of the acquisition are being disputed. It took place during the chaotic post-Soviet privatisation years – shares of major factories were handed out to workers and regular citizens, who often sold them for close to nothing; mafia groups set the terms, while competition for newly privatised key industrial assets was fierce. That was the backdrop for Deripaska’s first years in business. His biographers claim that he managed to stabilise the Siberian plant and increased its profitability. Seeking to expand his influence across the aluminium sector and integrate different parts of the supply chain, Deripaska founded Siberian Aluminium in 1997. The company brought together interests in raw materials, smelting, and trading. It later merged with Roman Abramovich’s aluminum assets to form United Company Rusal to become one of the world's largest aluminium producers. Billionaire Oleg Deripaska and Roman Abramovich at a meeting between president Vladimir Putin and Russian businessmen at the Kremlin in 2006. Rusal later became part of En+, the holding company for a broader portfolio of energy, metals and industrial assets – the company is currently listed on the London Stock Exchange. Aughinish Alumina in Co Limerick was bought by Rusal in 2007. According to the investigation by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and the Irish Times, the Sayanagorsk facility in Siberia is one of the main recipients of alumina from Limerick. Speaking in Kyiv this week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that close to 50% of alumina exported from Ireland goes to Europe, namely Sweden and France. The Department for Enterprise's investigation into Aughinish Alumina did not find evidence linking its exports to weapons manufacturers in Russia. Elsewhere in Europe, Rusal has assets in Sweden, Italy and Germany. The latter facility was Germany’s first aluminium smelter, established in 1898. Rusal bought the plant in 2021, saving it from bankruptcy. The regional newspaper Südkurier then reported that 120-year-old Alu Rheinfeld held 70 patents at the time of the deal – "for example, for special aluminium alloys, which are coveted in the aerospace industry." Deripaska’s fortune is currently estimated at around $7.6 billion, according to Forbes. Although well below its peak of approximately $28bn in 2008, his wealth has increased significantly in recent years. Does Deripaska still control Rusal? Concerns about Oleg Deripaska's relationship with the Kremlin were among the reasons cited by the US government when it sanctioned the aluminium tycoon in 2018. At the time, the US treasury said that he "acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, a senior official of the Government of the Russian Federation". To keep his business going despite the sanctions, Deripaska agreed to reduce his stake in En+ from 70% to less than 45%, below a controlling level. However, questions about Deripaska’s real influence in En+ and Rusal have persisted since the deal was reached. In 2019, Reuters reported that the arrangement did contain "multiple measures... to prevent a scenario in which Deripaska could exercise control over the companies at board level by acting in concert with other shareholders". But many of those measures operated on the basis of self-reporting: En+ and Rusal themselves were obliged to notify the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of any breaches. Some US Democrats argued at the time that OFAC has no power of preventing Deripaska from exerting influence over the companies. FBI agents stand guard outside the home of Oleg Deripaska in Washington, DC, in 2021. More recently, Swedish tax authorities, as reported by the Irish Times, argued that Rusal remains under Deripaska’s control and his stake could be as high as 53%. Speaking to RTÉ News, former Irish ambassador to the US Daniel Mulhall said that "he can’t judge" whether Deripaska may have retained his influence in the company informally. Mr Mulhall was serving in Washington at the time Ireland, alongside other EU states, lobbied for sanctions on Rusal to be lifted in an effort to protect jobs at Aughinish Alumina. He said: "The view at the time was that the original decision to sanction Deripaska had unintended consequences, and that those consequences were damaging to the European economy." He said that the Irish Government was "happy that the deal was reached because it enabled the strategic asset that happened to be in Ireland to continue to operate to the benefit of the European and Irish economies". Mr Mulhall noted that his understanding at the time was that most of the alumina from the plant was going to the European Union producers of aluminium. He argued that the "calculations" have changed since with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. "I dare say the government's attitude may be different now." We need your consent to load this rte-player content We use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preferences Sergei Ezhov, an exiled Russian investigative journalist who has reported extensively on Deripaska's business interests, is confident that the billionaire continues to wield significant influence over En+ and Rusal. "If the Russian authorities need to meet with a representative of this business, they would most certainly be meeting with Deripaska". Among circumstantial evidence of Mr Deripaska’s role in the company, according to Sergei Ezhov, are communications done on his behalf. "When Deripaska's interests are affected – for example, in multiple media investigations – En+ representatives and its PR staff often act on his behalf." RTÉ News approached Rusal for comment on Oleg Deripaska's current role and influence within the company, but his official biography claims the businessman is now dedicating most of his time to charity work. Putin’s favourite oligarch? Western governments and investigative journalists have long alleged that Deripaska is not only closely linked to the Kremlin but has acted as an informal representative of Russian interests abroad. Imposing sanctions on the industrialist, the US treasury said Deripaska "has also acknowledged possessing a Russian diplomatic passport and claims to have represented the Russian government in other countries". Russian President Vladimir Putin and billionaire Oleg Deripaska in China in 2014. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the EU, UK and Canada also sanctioned Deripaska for his ties to the Kremlin. According to the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Deripaska maintained regular personal contact with Russian president Vladimir Putin. He also became connected to Kremlin's inner circle through marriage. In 2001, Deripaska married Polina Yumasheva, daughter of Valentin Yumashev, one of the most influential figures in Russian politics at the time. Yumashev, the son-in-law of Russia’s first president Boris Yeltsin and a key presidential adviser, is often credited with recommending Vladimir Putin to Yeltsin as his successor. Russia's first president Boris Yeltsin (right) with Oleg Deripaska's future father-in-law Valentin Yumashev (second from the right) in 1997. Sergei Ezhov believes Deripaska has a special status in Russia’s political system. "He can allow himself to speak out against economic policies and Russia’s central bank". In recent years, the oligarch has repeatedly criticised what he describes as "state-capitalism", and has, at times, expressed concern about Russia’s war in Ukraine. Despite the image of a freethinker, some critics argue that his public interventions serve another purpose: allowing the Kremlin to gauge public reaction to controversial policy idea. In a Telegram post in March, that has since been deleted, the billionaire urged Russians to switch to a six-day working week, from 8am to 8pm, arguing that hard work was the country's only way out of a looming crisis. "This is our national character trait: in difficult times we know how to pull ourselves together and work harder." Russia's trade unions dismissed the proposal, saying it had neither economic nor political justification. Deripaska and the war Despite a few anti-war comments (in 2024 he called the conflict "mad"), Deripaska's position on Russia's invasion has been seen as ambiguous. Investigative journalist Sergei Ezhov believes that the aluminium tycoon has links to military production. In an investigation published by Latvia-based media outlet "The Insider" in 2025, Ezhov alleged that although Deripaska stepped down as director of the Military-Industrial Company in 2019, he remained connected to the manufacturer, which supplies equipment to Russia's defence ministry. The aluminium tycoon pursued legal action against journalists, politicians and governments. Deripaska challenged the claims in a lawsuit before the Moscow Arbitration Court, seeking a ruling that the article was defamatory. The court ruled in his favour. "Right now, I’m obliged to transfer 20,000 rubles (€224) to Deripaska every day," Ezhov told RTÉ News. Deripaska has pursued legal action against other journalists, as well as activists and political opponents over reporting and comments concerning his business activities and public role, including late opposition leader Alexey Navalny, UK papers The Telegraph and the Times. In a separate investigation, the independent Russian outlet "Vazhnyye Istorii" (Important Stories) alleged that companies linked to Deripaska, including Rusal, formed part of a wider system of Russia’s wealthiest people supporting Kremlin’s war efforts in Ukraine, including through supplying and sponsoring mercenaries. Deripaska disputed those allegations and successfully challenged the publication's claims in a Russian court.