The United Kingdom has imposed sanctions in connection with the recruitment of migrants for a drone assembly plant in the special economic zone "Alabuga."

      A total of 35 legal entities and individuals have been sanctioned. The UK has imposed sanctions against 35 legal entities and individuals from Russia and third countries linked to the production of Russian drones and networks for recruiting migrants from various countries, as reported on the UK Foreign Office website. It is noted that such networks deceitfully recruit people from different countries, promising them jobs in Russia, but upon arrival in the country, they are sent to the front lines or forced to work in defense factories. In particular, six individuals and one firm have been sanctioned, which, according to the agency, are involved in recruiting foreigners under the "Alabuga Start" program (related to the special economic zone "Alabuga" located in Tatarstan): these are Anastasia Barysheva, Konstantin Trifonov, Chulpan Islamova, Savsan Yusupova, Elmira Saifullina, as well as Michel Guy France Atéba and Enangue Holding (France). This concerns the recruitment of foreigners for work in drone production. For involvement in "human trafficking," five companies and nine citizens from third countries, including Thailand and China, have been included in the sanctions list. Sanctions have been imposed, in particular, against Sergey Merzlyakov and Polina Azarnykh for instrumentalizing migration to destabilize the situation in Ukraine and Europe. The BBC previously found out that Azarnykh is a former teacher. She recruited citizens from the Middle East and Africa through a Telegram channel to participate in the war against Ukraine on the side of Russia. Over the past year, she has sent more than 490 invitations to men from Yemen, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Iraq, Côte d'Ivoire, and Nigeria. The sanctions list also includes Russian and foreign companies and individuals associated with them that supply or are linked to the supply of drones, drone components, or dual-use goods for Russia's defense sector. Among them are Pavel and Yegor Nikitin, Sergey Kashchenko, Mikhail Volovik, SNK TRADE, Eltech component, M9 Logistics, Sea2sky, and Tanaq. Pavel Nikitin, according to the UK Foreign Office, owns a company that develops FPV drones VT-40, which are widely used by the Russian Federation in attacks on Ukraine. "As Russia attempts to use migrants to support its military machine, the sanctions announced today are directly aimed at individuals engaged in the trafficking of vulnerable migrants to participate in combat operations on the front lines of Putin's war, as well as against companies supplying products to Russian drone manufacturing plants," the Foreign Office stated. UK Minister for Europe Stephen Doughty called the Russian practice of "exploiting vulnerable people to support" the war "barbaric." It should be noted that drones "Geran" are assembled on the territory of "Alabuga." For the needs of the factory, workers have been recruited from various countries for many months — India, Africa, Central Asia, and Latin America. Local influencers or advertisements are used for this purpose. Analysts from the American "Foundation for the Defense of Democracies" directly call "Alabuga Start" a global channel for supplying effectively coerced labor for the Russian defense industry. The fact that drones are produced in "Alabuga" is not hidden in Russia. In July 2025, a program on the Russian TV channel "Zvezda" (which is affiliated with the Russian Ministry of Defense) 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. Subscribe to our channel on Telegram.