In the advertising campaign "Alabuga Polytech," minors participated. This is the first official confirmation of their involvement in the assembly of strike drones.

      An advertising post using similar videos has been noticed, for example, on the large military channel "Rybar." "Alabuga Polytechnic" and the special economic zone (SEZ) "Alabuga" in Tatarstan have prepared an advertising campaign that explicitly states for the first time that underage students are participating in the assembly of "Shahed" combat drones. The archive of promotional videos has come into the possession of the publication T-invariant. In one of the videos, a first-year student who introduces herself as Darina says that she works on the assembly of "Shaheds" and her parents are proud of her. "My name is Darina, I am 16 years old. Next year I will be earning 150,000 rubles a month. I study at 'Alabuga Polytechnic' and work at the largest drone manufacturing plant in the world. My parents are proud of me. Do you want to be like me?" — says the girl in the promo video. In another video, a second-year student named Alexander says that he is already earning 150,000 rubles a month and "is doing a great job for the country." "My name is Alexander, I am in my second year at 'Alabuga Polytechnic.' And I am already earning 150,000 rubles a month. You may ask how? I work as an incoming control specialist at the largest drone manufacturing plant in the world. The best technologies in the world are concentrated here. We are doing a great job for the country. I plan to grow further. My parents are proud of me," notes the student.

      The drone assembly plant in the SEZ "Alabuga"

      In a video folder available to T-invariant, third-year students talk about a salary of 350,000 rubles a month and end the video with the phrase: "Parents told me: man!" One of the bloggers, to whom the advertising agency approached with an integration proposal (using these videos), told T-invariant that advertising with a 25-second video of this kind costs from 250,000 rubles to 1.5 million depending on the level of reach and subscribers of a particular blog. "Over the past year, agencies have been coming with this once a quarter, but with such videos — for the first time. I believe they spend several tens of millions of rubles on one campaign," said the interviewee of the journalists. T-invariant noted that an advertising post using similar videos has been noticed, for example, on the large military channel "Rybar."

      Recall that in the summer of 2023, journalists from the publication "Protocol" and the YouTube channel "RZVRT" reported that students from "Alabuga Polytechnic" are being recruited for the assembly of Iranian drones at the plant in the special economic zone "Alabuga." Many workers are underage, the investigation stated. Even then, investigators wrote that "Alabuga Polytechnic" attracted, among others, female students from Africa, luring them through dating apps Tinder and Badoo. Some of them reported that they were "treated like donkeys" and "kept in slavery." The fact that drones are produced in "Alabuga" is not hidden in Russia. The connection between "Alabuga Polytechnic" and the special economic zone is considered confirmed. In July 2025, a program on the Russian TV channel "Zvezda" (which belongs to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation) reported that a serial production of "Geran" drones has been established in the SEZ "Alabuga." The TV channel showed the scale of assembly work involving college students. In the "Zvezda" report, Timur Shagivaleev, the general director of the SEZ "Alabuga," stated that "thousands" of drones are produced at the plant, and students from "Alabuga Polytechnic" are involved in the work. The footage shows young employees, many of whom appear to be teenagers, assembling parts.

      In early 2026, the American "Foundation for Defense of Democracies" (FDD) published a report revealing an aggressive campaign to recruit girls from Latin America to work in the special economic zone "Alabuga." According to analysts' data, after an initial focus on Africa, Russia shifted to countries in South and Central America, turning the "Alabuga Start" program into a global channel for supplying forced labor for the needs of the defense industry. The SEZ "Alabuga" and its college are under Western sanctions, reminds T-invariant. Subscribe to our channel on Telegram.