A gap between European and U.K. sanctions is allowing nickel from Russia to flow into the United States months after Washington banned Russian-origin metal, according to a new investigation by Global Witness.
The watchdog says EU buyers have legally imported nearly $1.3 billion of Russian nickel since April 2024, when the U.S. and U.K. barred imports of Russian nickel, copper and aluminum. Roughly two-thirds of that value went to Finland, where Norilsk Nickel operates a major refinery via a Finnish subsidiary, the report finds. Because the refined product is exported with Finnish origin, it is not covered by the U.S. import ban, Global Witness said.
Using Russian rail freight data from April 2024 to January 2025, the advocacy group counted an average of ~290 containers per month crossing the Russia–Finland border by rail. The group says this stream of partially refined nickel matte and other inputs feeds Nornickel’s Harjavalta refinery in western Finland, which produces nickel briquettes and sulphates used in EV batteries and stainless steel, some of which are then shipped to the United States.
The findings underscore a sanctions gap: while the U.S. and U.K. imposed metal import bans last April, the EU has not sanctioned Russian nickel. As a result, Europe remains a key node in Nornickel’s supply chain even as the bloc vows to maintain pressure on Moscow, Global Witness said.
Read more at Global Witness