Australia banned the supply of alumina and aluminum ores to Russia as part of sanctions

The Australian government, within the framework of sanctions against Russia because of its military operation in Ukraine, decided to impose a ban on the export of alumina and aluminum ores to the Russian Federation.

It is believed in Australia that this will limit Russia’s ability to produce aluminum, PRIME reports with reference to the press service of the Australian Foreign Ministry. They calculated that almost 20% of Russia’s needs for alumina are supplied from Australia.

Prior to that, on March 18, the Australian authorities imposed new sanctions against Russia, which included businessmen Oleg Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg, as well as 11 Russian banks, which, as indicated by the Australian Foreign Ministry, “account for approximately 80% of all banking assets in the Russian Federation” , including Sberbank, Gazprombank, Alfa-Bank and others.

Recall that on February 21, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), and on February 24 he made an emergency appeal to the Russians and announced a special military operation in Donbass. In his speech, he stated that “circumstances require decisive action from Russia” and stressed that “Russia will not allow Ukraine to have nuclear weapons.”

In response to Russia’s actions, Western countries (USA, Canada, European Union, Great Britain, Japan) announced new, tougher sanctions against the Russian Federation, including financial and economic ones.

Thus, in particular, Russian banks fell under the sanctions, including Sberbank, VTB, Novikombank, FC Otkritie and Sovcombank, and for a number of state-owned companies it was difficult to attract foreign capital.

Later, the EU countries and the United States agreed to disconnect Russian banks that fell under sanctions from the international system of interbank transactions and information exchange SWIFT. In addition, it was decided to freeze the assets of the Bank of Russia, which will create difficulties for its use of international reserves. EU countries also pledged to take steps to limit the sale of citizenship — the so-called “golden passports” that allow wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government to become citizens of EU states and gain access to their financial systems. In addition, the European Union, the United States, Canada and a number of other countries have closed the sky for Russian aircraft.

You can follow the chronicle of events around Ukraine here.