Russian authorities have launched a new call for applications for the controversial “Alabuga Start” program. Officially, it is announced that the initiative offers opportunities for relocation, studies, and employment for young people from several states. However, the reality is much harsher. Individuals are taken to the Tatarstan region, the town of Alabuga, presented as a free economic zone, then forced to work on drone assembly. From the sums initially promised, participants receive not even half, being frequently fined, and a portion of their money is withdrawn under the pretext of covering payments for studies, food, accommodation, and other expenses.
False Promises
For the 2026 program, individuals from a list of 85 countries are eligible. A good portion of them are African or Asian, but among them are also several countries from the post-Soviet region or areas where Russia wants to consolidate its influence. This includes the Republic of Moldova, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
In previous years, the program was primarily intended for girls. The basic conditions announced on the official website are that they must have completed 9 grades and be in good health. Even a passport is not mandatory, recruiters promising that the young women can obtain it during the period of file examination.
Participants in the program are promised accommodation in a hostel, transfers, transportation in Russia, monthly allowances, voluntary medical insurance, and Russian language lessons. They can choose from six fields of activity: logistics, food industry, transportation, hospitality, production, and construction.
The shattered Russian dream
Recruitment takes place through forms and Telegram channels. Young women must necessarily provide contact information.
On the official website, logging in is only done via the phone number, and in the Telegram bots, a form with personal data must be completed.
On social networks, the program is beautifully packaged, promoting photo and video images with participants, and on the official website the reviews are positive. However, those recruited are faced with harsh reality.
In the year 2025, several international publications reported that the young participants in the program had to work in 12-hour shifts. Instead of being waitresses, housekeepers, or providing other services, as per their contracts, they were forced to assemble Iranian drones, which were then used in attacks against Ukraine.
Investigations have been launched in Botswana and South Africa against companies involved in recruiting young people, according to currenttime.tv. According to testimonies from participants in the Alabuga Start program, up to 90% of applicants end up in drone assembly factories. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies in the USA reported that those admitted to the program were required to constantly report their whereabouts, take airplane selfies, and transmit photos of their boarding passes.
The remuneration promised in previous editions of the program was around 500 dollars. From this amount, expenses for accommodation, Russian language courses, and administrative fines were deducted, and in the end, the women received a sixth of the sum.
Journalists have also written that at the enterprises where drones are assembled, women were exposed to chemical substances and did not benefit from protective equipment, and after Alabuga was attacked by Ukrainian drones, employers confiscated the passports of foreigners who wanted to leave the program.
Minors recruited for drone assembly
Since as early as 2023, investigative journalists have reported that minors are being recruited in Alabuga to assemble drones. The first recruitments of young people from Africa in Tatarstan were discovered around the same time.
The Kremlin does not hide that drones are being assembled in Tatarstan. For instance, in July 2025, the director of the Alabuga Free Economic Zone reported to the Russian television station “Zvezda” that hundreds of unmanned aircraft are being assembled in the region.
Following the emergence of accusations about the recruitment and exploitation of foreigners, however, the Kremlin seems to be trying to improve the situation with the help of loyal bloggers and journalists from abroad. For instance, in the fall of 2025, on Ilia Nikolaev’s YouTube channel, which produces content in Spanish and has over 80,000 followers, there appeared stories of young women relocated to Alabuga, who claim that the testimonies about forced labor are false. Other ambassadors promoting the program are journalists, engineers, and certain public figures from Latin American, African, or Asian countries.
Most often, young people find out about Alabuga Start through social networks. Some of them watch videos on TikTok, while others are approached on dating apps, including Tinder.
Direct Promotion of War
If in Africa and Latin America young people are offered money, relocation and employment, in Central Asia they speak openly about drone assembly.
According to currenttime.tv, in Kyrgyzstan, representatives of Alabuga have signed a cooperation memorandum with the Ministry of Education and Science, freely visited schools and colleges, and conducted participant selection. Activists from Astana have obtained forms in which students were informed that they can apply to the program from 14 years old, the messages being accompanied by slogans such as “we all need victory in the special military operation” and “building drones that destroy the enemy is cool”.
