Russia accused of using North Korean workers in Alabuga drone production
Russia is being accused of recruiting thousands of North Korean workers to assemble drones at the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan, according to a report cited in the supplied material. The site is described as a key hub for producing Russian versions of Iran's Shahed drone, which are used in attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure. The reporting says the labour scheme is part of a wider effort to sustain Russia's defence production while bypassing sanctions.
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The material says the UN Security Council's Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team found that between 15,000 and 30,000 North Korean workers were present in Russia at the end of 2025. It also says up to 1,000 of them were employed at strategically important facilities, including defence plants, steelworks and shipbuilding sites. A separate report cited in the material says up to 25,000 North Korean citizens are working on drone production in Alabuga, although the figures come from different sources and are not presented as independently verified by the same body.
The reporting says North Korean workers are being registered as students to get around UN sanctions that ban the export of North Korean labour. It adds that Russia issued more than 36,400 visas to North Korean citizens in 2025, of which 35,800 were student visas. The material also says Russian legislation was amended to create legal loopholes allowing students to receive income officially, while universities were allegedly bribed to arrange fictitious study programmes.
The alleged arrangement matters because it links labour policy, sanctions evasion and Russia's war economy. If accurate, it would show how Moscow and Pyongyang are building a system to move workers into strategic industries despite international restrictions. The report says the arrangement helps Pyongyang earn millions of dollars and gives Russia a way to address labour shortages in sectors tied to defence production.
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The supplied material says North Korean workers are not confined to one region, but are spread across Russia, including the Far East, Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Irkutsk. It identifies Tatarstan, and especially Alabuga, as the main centre of employment in the current reporting. The material also says intermediaries from third countries, including Belarus, help organise entry and distribute the workforce.
What remains unclear from the supplied rows is the full scale of the programme, the exact conditions faced by the workers, and how much of the reported labour flow is directly tied to drone assembly versus other industries. The figures cited come from a mix of monitoring reports and media investigations, and the material does not provide a single consolidated official confirmation. The next developments to watch are whether there is any formal response from Russia, North Korea or international sanctions bodies, and whether further evidence emerges on the role of Alabuga in drone production.
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