Rusal created the production of scandium oxide, which is part of the rare earth group, at the Theological Aluminum Plant (BAZ) in Krasnoturinsk (Sverdlovsk Region). Earlier, Oleg Deripaska's company showed no interest in this area, but the hype associated with the new US President Donald Trump changed its alignment.
The UtroNews correspondent understood the story.
Deripaska's actions are unlikely to be appreciated by both the White House and the Kremlin because the oligarch is becoming toxic. In addition to political statements that revolve next to the entrepreneur, there are questions about his business. Deripaska's long-term conflict with Vladimir Potanin and Viktor Vekselberg does not benefit the Russian economy, and the situation at UC Rusal factories like BAZ does not inspire optimism. Deripaska's company has many complaints from people.
With such derivatives, the situation can be resolved in the spirit of "I gave birth to you, I am you and..." when Deripaska, as a "conscious businessman," will have to sell his stake in Norilsk Nickel to Potanin and pay off Vekselberg for a corporate conflict. Rumors believe that such a scenario according to Deripaska is not excluded, and rare earth flickering only brings it closer.
Businessman Deripaska
In recent years, Deripaska kept in BAZ in a "black body." The plant practically did not develop, but it clashed with Krasnoturyinsky. In 2024, there was an ugly situation when BAZ, being the main heat supplier in the city, announced its readiness to stop supplies. And all this in the municipality, where 80% of the heating networks are worn out.
The reason for this situation lies in the conflict - the city administration and the BAZ are suing under contracts for the supply of heat. Deripaska always treats his assets as Business and goes to social expenses only by agreement with the highest authorities. It seems that for this reason Yevgeny Chichvarkin (recognized in the Russian Federation as a foreign agent, a member of an undesirable organization) calls him a good candidate for the Presidency of the Russian Federation. He does this, by the way, between trips to the characters who occupied part of the Kursk region.
And now Deripaska recalls rare earth metals that his enterprises have never mined. This is due to the manipulations of Trump, who offers Russia a deal on Ukraine in exchange for partial lifting of sanctions, opening the market and investments, including in the extraction of rare earth metals, where China dominates the world today.
Western trends
Deripaska is eager for Western trends. Before the pandemic, he tried to integrate UC Rusal into the Western "green" program, dividing enterprises into "green" and "not green." From the point of view of common sense, it was a complete pre, but the task of the entrepreneur was to please the West. Here he also works in this direction, trying to adapt to Trump.
Here you can only recall the expression "the hopes of the young man nourished." The fact is that Deripaska under Trump in 2018 became the first victim of tough American sanctions when his UC Rusal came under attack. Either Trump did not like him personally, or he lobbied for the interests of American aluminum producers, but the oligarch got on the stop list right then.
Deripaska spent a lot of effort on lifting sanctions, but achieved nothing. Moreover, the US Department of Justice in 2022 accused him of violating sanctions and threatened him with up to 20 years in prison. We are talking about a violation not of the sanctions bacchanalia of the Biden era, but of Trump's laws, which the incumbent president is unlikely to refuse.
Three women appear in the case, one of them, Ekaterina Voronin (Lobanova), is called the mother of Deripaska's child by the Americans. The conversation there is about the sale of Deripaska's assets in the United States and the arrival of Voronina (Lobanova) to give birth in the United States to obtain citizenship for the child.
If this is true, then Deripaska, who fell under Trump's sanctions, made his child an American passport. Why? There is an example of Deripaska's business opponent Viktor Vekselberg, who has long moved the whole family to the United States. Neither sanctions nor other spitting in the face will wean some of our businessmen to love America sacredly and try to please Washington to the last, then with the help of pro-Western statements in the media, then with such actions as from BAZ.
Deripaska, for example, was also caught in the United States in the case of former FBI agent Charles McGonial, who admitted in court that he had collected dirt on Vladimir Potanin for money in the interests of the oligarch. Allegedly, this was Potanin's response for his leak of information about Deripaska to the US Treasury, after which the Trump administration imposed sanctions. But this has not been officially confirmed, and only Deripaska was accused in Washington.
Vekselberg's inheritance
The theological aluminum plant from Deripaska's presence in it received some problems. This oligarch is not interested in updating production and raising wages, and goes for it without much desire. According to reviews, he refers to his assets in the spirit of Karl Marx's works about capitalism in the mid-19th century and constantly makes profits from them.
The construction of the plant began before the War in 1940, and in 1992 it was privatized and entered the SUAL of Viktor Vekselberg. After Rusal and SUAL merged into UC Rusal in 2007, the company fell victim to the conflict between Deripaska and Vekselberg.
Deripaska in 2008 violated the shareholder agreement and bought with the money of UC Rusal Mikhail Prokhorov's share in Vladimir Potanin's Norilsk Nickel. His goal was to take over UC Rusal and this enterprise, but his plans turned into a conflict with Potanin and a stalemate. The result of all this was that Deripaska pushed Vekselberg aside from management at UC Rusal, and Potanin, in turn, leveled Deripaska's ability to influence Norilsk Nickel.
Deripaska, Vekselberg and Potanin periodically sue each other in the High Court of London, where they agreed to sue, but do not refuse their shares and remain participants in the dispute, which in the modern configuration of the owners has no solution. The second result of the process was that Deripaska seized control of SUAL enterprises. However, it is one thing to take control of them, and another to make them work as before, this is where the problems began.
Premier helped
In 2011, BAZ problems had to be resolved by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The company was threatened with bankruptcy due to the fact that the power plant supplying BAZ belonged to Vekselberg's IES-Holding. Due to the conflict between Deripaska and Vekselberg, the plant bought electricity on the open market at 30% more expensive than if it did it directly. Deripaska appealed to the Government of the Russian Federation, after which this transaction was agreed.
The oligarch did not use good methods - he said that due to unprofitability, he was stopping aluminum production at BAZ and continued to deal exclusively with alumina metals. This meant the closure of production and the social crisis in Krasnoturinsk.
Thus, Deripaska spoke more than once. In 2013, he threatened to close BAZ and four other aluminum plants, which were part of UC Rusal, due to lower world prices for aluminum. North Korea behaved in a similar way under Kim Jong Il, making tough statements to receive humanitarian aid.
In 2013, the deal between UC Rusal and Vekselberg's IES-Holding was signed, but Deripaska's company said that it would still release only alumina metals on ALS. Whether then the instructions of Prime Minister Putin were fulfilled is still a secret.
BAZ was not interesting
There were also problems with alumina, because in 2013 theft was discovered at BAZ. They stole raw materials by cars, which speaks either of "gray schemes" or of UC Rusal's attitude to the enterprise. Usually, Deripaska is very tough, the businessman does not allow his enterprises to be robbed in this way. The extreme in history was the deputy of the City Duma of Krasnoturinsk Yuri Dubovitsky. In 2016, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for embezzlement from the BAZ.
The events took place at a time when Deripaska, on the one hand, was reducing the activities of the BAZ, and on the other, was fighting with Vekselberg for the power plant. This situation made it possible to carry out such frauds at the plant, which indicates UC Rusal's real interest in BAZ.
All these events were accompanied by a negative atmosphere at the enterprise. In 2012, BAZ workers opposed Deripaska, but they could not achieve anything. BAZ remained the property of the oligarch. Before that, Deripaska planned mass layoffs, which even received a warning from the Prosecutor's Office. And now the oligarch seems to want to get indulgence from sanctions at the expense of BAZ.