Russian firm recruits young African women, including from SA, to build drones for war on Ukraine

Daily Maverick

08-05-2025

Some recruits complained of racism and harassment. Others said they were subjected to excess surveillance and had to sign non-disclosure agreements about their work.
A Russian firm is fraudulently recruiting hundreds of young foreign women — mostly from Africa, including South Africa — to manufacture drones which it is using to attack Ukraine, according to a new report.
The women, aged between 18 and 22, though in the past some have been younger, are not told they are being recruited to Russia to make drones, according to the report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC).
The report, 'Who is making Russia's drones? — The migrant women exploited for Russia's war economy', said the women were recruited by a private company, Alabuga Start, with promises of good salaries and educational opportunities. The company is part of the Alabuga Special Economic Zone (Alabuga SEZ), an industrial park in the city of Yelabuga, east of Moscow.
It has been manufacturing Iranian Shahed drones since late 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine, in a deal with the Iranian company Sahara Thunder — a subsidiary of the Iranian Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces, says the report.
No mention is made in the recruiting of the migrant workers that they will be contributing to Russia's war against Ukraine, nor that they could face danger, says the report. The production site in the Alabuga SEZ, where Iranian Shahed 'kamikaze' drones and Albatross reconnaissance drones are made, was attacked by Ukrainian drones in April 2024, injuring several African migrant workers.
GI-TOC said Alabuga Start participants and other workers at the site described exploitative, repressive and punitive working conditions.
Some recruits complained of racism and harassment of African workers. Others said they were subjected to excess surveillance and had to sign non-disclosure agreements about their work. Some workers claimed that they were not paid what they had been promised (around $500 a month), although others expressed satisfaction with the pay.
The report noted that Alabuga Start had at times been pitched as a work-study programme and some recruits had been promised they could continue from the Alabuga Polytech alongside the factory, to study at Russian universities. But, reportedly, these opportunities did not materialise, and several workers complained that they were given the least-skilled, most menial work.
Euphemistic descriptions
GI-TOC found that up to 90% of the migrant workers ended up on the drone assembly line, while the rest did jobs such as cleaning in the factory. Meanwhile, the advertising for recruits contained 'euphemistic or generic descriptions about working as a 'production operator' or 'technician' in otherwise unnamed production lines'.
The report's authors found documents which included staffing plans which 'set out three categories of personnel: specialist technicians (Russians); 'Tajik' engineers; and 'mulatto' workers, a derogatory term for the African migrant workers'.
The report quoted Timur Shagivaleev, CEO of the Alabuga SEZ, who said the programme was aimed at relieving Russia's labour shortage as 'Russians are simply not ready to work for 30,000–40,000 rubles ($300–400) … in Third World countries … the starting salary is very low – about $200. And that's why foreigners from exotic countries are ready to work for such money.'
The report said its research showed that the most recent starting salary was now about $500 per month.
Shagivaleev was also quoted as saying Alabuga Start only recruited women because they were more 'accurate' in their work and easier to work with than men.
According to Alabuga's figures, the programme recruited participants from 44 countries in 2023, said the report. It added that it identified recruits from at least 32 countries, though there were likely to be more.
GI-TOC's list includes South Africa as a source country for workers, but does not provide details.
The report noted that the drones produced at Alabuga were central to Russia's war effort, as it has been launching attacks on Ukraine using Shahed-type drones almost daily. The Shaheds are called kamikaze drones because they don't carry separate weapons — they are the weapons. Which means Russia needs lots of them.
Alabuga is a private company, and GI-TOC said it had found no evidence that the fraudulent recruitment of migrant women was directed by the Russian government. However, it said the company had close government links — as Moscow is a financial backer and the only user of the drones.
Strategic interests
It added that Alabuga 'is in line with Russia's strategic interests of growing its presence overseas, including in countries in Africa, and it has often made use of private business to achieve these objectives (including in the case of Wagner)', referring to the private military company founded by Russian President Vladimir Putin's confidante Yevgeny Prigozhin, which helped him fight his battles in Ukraine, Syria and Africa before he mutinied in 2023 and died in a suspicious plane crash with his senior commanders.
The report also discovered evidence that Russian embassies in Tanzania and Central African Republic were involved in the recruitment of workers from those countries. It said that Alabuga Start primarily recruited online, but also through recruitment partners in source countries, some of whom claimed they did not know the workers were being recruited to make drones.
GI-TOC found that the governments of some African countries had assisted in the recruitment of their nationals for the programme.
A damaged car at the site of Russian shelling near a residential building in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, 07 March 2025, amid the Russian invasion. At least eight people were injured after Russian missile strikes hit near a three-story building and a critical infrastructure facility in Kharkiv, the Mayor of the city Ihor Terekhov wrote on telegram. Russia launched 194 attack drones and 67 missiles across Ukraine overnight, with Ukrainian air defenses shooting down 36 rockets and 186 drones, according to the Air Force Command of Ukraine. EPA-EFE/SERGEY KOZLOV
It noted, though, that as the complaints from participating workers and others increased, Alabuga Start had become more politicised, and some host countries in Africa had begun to take action against it. It said Burkina Faso had apparently halted recruitment, while Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania had made moves to regulate recruitment.
The report said Uganda had created a bilateral labour agreement with Russia that could cover Alabuga Start, while Kenya and Tanzania had reportedly discussed creating such an agreement.
GI-TOC noted that though recruitment initially focused on Africa, it now ranged further, including Asia and particularly Latin America.
GI-TOC said that according to the definition of the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime, Alabuga Start 'does not constitute a clear-cut case of human trafficking … but something that is more akin to fraudulent exploitation'.
It found that Alabuga's failure to inform the recruits that they were going to Russia to make drones did amount to an element of human trafficking under the convention. However, there was not a wholesale denial of the participants' rights, including because they did receive pay and other benefits that were promised. And they were allowed to leave after their contracts ended.
The ambiguity was reflected in participants' divergent views, 'which varied from feelings of exploitation to acceptance of the working conditions'.
Highly irregular
The report concluded, nevertheless, that 'the Alabuga SEZ recruitment programmes constitute an exploitative use of juvenile and migrant labour to support the Russian war economy. It is a highly irregular arrangement that shows the lengths to which Russia is having to go to sustain its military supply chains.
'There is a clear disjoint between the upbeat promises of the glossy marketing campaign made to young women from predominantly the Global South and the harsh realities of the working conditions, and the deception, coercion and risks to safety that the work exposes them to.
'By concealing the true nature of Alabuga's role in producing military drones it denies potential recruits the opportunity to make an informed decision about what they are undertaking as applicants.'
The report recommended that countries from which Alabuga Start participants had been recruited should:
Contact these participants through their embassies in Russia to ensure their welfare;
Investigate the programme and the safeguards for participants;
Identify the local intermediaries and ask them to stop promoting the programme; and
Stop issuing travel documents to prevent their citizens from participating in the programme.
International partners of these countries should share information with source countries of Alabuga Start participants about the company's role in the war economy and the treatment of migrant workers.
They should also support the development of alternative work and education opportunities for migrant workers.
Daily Maverick did reach out to Alabuga Start for comment, but had receive not response at the time of publication. Their comment will be added should they choose to comment at a later stage. DM