Before I leave Ireland, I want to place on record that in the last 24 hours I have received constant stalking and death threats for my reporting. However I will not be intimidated.
What I have uncovered is deeply troubling, and the effort to silence it only makes that clearer.
Completely blown away by this.
Today I was recognised by President Zelenskyy with the Order of Merit. A profound honour.
Right now powerful people want the truth about Ukraine buried. It’s a privilege to be able to tell it. ❤️🇺🇦🔥
Scandal brewing in “neutral” Ireland after revelations that one Russian-affiliated plant there has been supplying over 83% Irish exports of alumina to Russia where it’s smelted into aluminum, a critical component for war production.
Aughinish Alumina in County Limerick, Europe’s largest alumina refinery, owned by United Company Rusal (Russia’s largest aluminium producer), whose parent EN+ Group was founded by sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska. An investigation by the Irish Times, OCCRP and other outlets, drawing on confidential documents, customs data and satellite imagery, established the supply chain.
The Irish government tried to deflect but when a reporter filmed the plant with signs in Russian, they could no longer deny it. Now internal documents were leaked showing that the company is threatening the Irish government with loss of jobs and all sorts of things if it tried to curb its exports to Russia.
The newest defense is that alumina isn’t under EU sanctions so technically no rules were broken. Except Ireland had no problem defying the EU and forging ahead with its own restrictions on imports from Israel with its Occupied Territories Bill. Because… reasons (or maybe Russian occupation of Ukraine is OK while Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands is not).
Australia stopped its alumina exports to Russia because the material is so necessary for the war (its main exporter was also 20%-owned by Deripaska). The neutral Irish government is operating under different standards, where morality is spelled in Russian.
I wonder what the Irish people, who overwhelmingly support Ukraine (in fact, they are among the strongest supporters in Europe when it comes to economic and financial aid), think about all of this.
Lots of pro russian Irish people telling me to ‘go to the front lines & leave Ireland’
I’ve just come here from Nikopol. The press armour is still in my bag. I watched Russian drones hunt civilians with my own eyes. That’s why the indifference here is so despicable, especially while Ireland still supplies alumina to Russias war machine.
I’m not going anywhere. This investigation continues
I asked a local councillor if the russian refinery here in Ireland should be sanctioned.
He said yes, if it was supplying Israel.
But Russia? No.
This is Ireland’s sanctions hypocrisy in 90 seconds.
Every sign at this refinery in Ireland is in russian. The official website is a .RU domain.
There’s no reason to hide it because local politicians are openly doing it for them.
Two of my favourite leaders right now are Jewish, and one of the criminals I hate most is also Jewish. Their Judaism doesn’t define them, their actions do. When you allow Israel to cynically present itself as the representative of global Judaism, you risk assigning the actions and guilt of a state to millions of innocent people worldwide.