Rusal, which was hit with U.S. sanctions in April that seriously disrupted aluminum supplies, said the relocation was still subject to shareholder approval.

The announcement comes a day after En+ Group, which is also subject to U.S. sanctions on the two companies' tycoon co-owner Oleg Deripaska, said it was considering re-domiciling to one of Russia's new offshore zones.

Russia has created two special administrative regions where companies enjoy benefits such as a zero tax on profits received by way of dividends - an arrangement similar to foreign offshore tax havens.

Rusal said its board had decided that a change of domicile might be "in the best interests of the company and its shareholders as a whole" and entrusted the management with developing a detailed action plan.

Shares in Hong Kong-listed Rusal, the world's largest aluminum producer outside China, are down 54 percent since the sanctions were imposed on April 6.

(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Tom Balmforth; editing by David Evans)