"They Promised Hotel and Logistics Jobs"…South American Women Working in Russian Drone Factories

Russian "Alabuga Start" program recruits women aged 18–22 from 77 countries

Deployed to drone assembly lines, contrary to advertised promises

"Suspected human trafficking" vs. "Groundless claims"

Allegations have emerged that Russia is recruiting young women from South America and deploying them in domestic military drone assembly factories.

A photo of a drone at the Russia Drone Expo to help readers understand the article. Photo by TASS Yonhap News Agency

On July 28 (local time), Yonhap News Agency, citing the French daily Le Monde, reported that "Russia is attracting female workers from South America to a drone production base in the Republic of Tatarstan."

The recruitment channel is a program called "Alabuga Start," which, according to its website, claims to provide selected foreigners with vocational training and education in seven fields, including hotel services, driving, and logistics. The eligibility requirement is restricted to women aged 18 to 22, and the recruitment network spans across 77 countries in Africa, Asia, and South America.

The program operates in a minimum two-year cycle, promising stable living conditions, social security, and official salaries. However, the actual work assigned to the South American women upon arrival differs from the program’s description. They have reportedly been placed on assembly lines for Geran drones, which Russia developed based on Iranian Shahed drones.

The "Alabuga Special Economic Zone" in the Yelabuga district of Tatarstan has, since 2022, become a key production base for Shahed-type drones in Russia. Despite ongoing labor shortages and mounting Western sanctions, drone production at this location increased in 2024. According to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR), Russia plans to manufacture 60,000 long-range drones and 50,000 piloted decoy drones this year.

It is reported that low-wage labor from South American women is being mobilized for this drone production. Russia began its recruitment efforts in South America in 2024. Last year, recruitment channels leveraging social media appeared in 13 South American countries, and AI-generated content as well as collaborations with local influencers were employed.

Russia's Overseas Youth Vocational Training Placement Program 'Alabuga Start'. Official Website

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a U.S. think tank, also pointed out in a report published in January that Russia is exploiting low-wage labor for drone production. The report lists four major concerns: constant surveillance of female workers, exposure to hazardous working environments, delayed wage payments, and confiscation of passports if workers attempt to leave. African workers who previously participated in the program shared via social media that they experienced excessive shift schedules, exposure to harmful chemicals, and severe restrictions on their movements.

However, the Russian Embassy in South Africa refuted these allegations in an August 2025 statement, asserting that "Russia has been accused of human trafficking and exploitation based on groundless claims." The Alabuga Start organizers have denied deception during recruitment and poor working conditions, but did not deny that some participants are involved in drone manufacturing.

Meanwhile, some have pointed out that Russia’s recruitment of South American personnel extends beyond industrial labor. It is also reportedly used to recruit combatants for deployment in the Ukraine war, with over 5,000 Cubans known to have been deployed to the Donbas front this year.

Douglas Farah, head of the security think tank IBI Consultants, analyzed, "Russia believes that countries within the former Soviet sphere are its neighbors and subject to its control," adding, "To confront the United States, it seeks to exert influence in the U.S. neighborhood—in other words, in Latin America." He furthermore characterized this as "a broad ideological projection that impacts both political extremes in South America."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.