Russia Uses 25,000 North Korean Workers for Drone Production in Tatarstan
Updated
Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Sep 17
Russia Uses 25,000 North Korean Workers for Drone Production in Tatarstan
3 articles · Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Sep 17
Summary
Up to 25,000 North Korean workers are employed at the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan, making drones used by Russian forces in the war against Ukraine, according to a Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team report.
Student visas are central to the scheme: the report says almost all North Korean workers who entered Russia in 2025 did so posing as international students rather than on work permits.
Russia hosts 15,000 to 30,000 North Korean workers tied to 70-80 DPRK companies, with up to 1,000 placed in strategically important sectors such as weapons plants, steel processing and shipbuilding.
Alabuga has already expanded to support the influx—Russia built a large residential complex there in 2025 for foreign workers, including North Koreans.
The findings point to a broader sanctions-evasion system between Moscow and Pyongyang, in which workers earn about $7,500 a year but nearly all of that income is reportedly seized by the North Korean regime.