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Russia Targets Foreign Youth at International Event for Drone Manufacturing Roles
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Russian authorities used the "International Youth Festival—2026" in Yekaterinburg to promote the "Alabuga Polytech" training center, an institution that prepares specialists to produce Shahed-type strike drones, according to the Center for Countering Disinformation on September 15.
Event organizers presented institutional exhibition stands to attendees, including a significant number of foreign visitors, promising rapid employment and career development opportunities.
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Under the pretext of promoting technological sovereignty and educational opportunities, the head of the institution, Elvira Fomina, along with event organizers, engaged young people to participate in the manufacturing of weaponry.
Russian forces utilize the resulting unmanned aerial vehicles on a daily basis to launch strikes against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure and peaceful residents as part of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Alabuga training center has previously been the subject of multiple international investigations regarding the use of deceptive schemes to recruit young women from countries across Africa and Asia.
In a separate update, the Center for Countering Disinformation reported that Russian propaganda outlets circulated an artificial intelligence-generated video on TikTok featuring individuals disguised as service members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' 46th Separate Airmobile Brigade.
The video clip displayed "three servicemen" while an off-screen voice claimed that "this is all that remained of the unit" following a redeployment to a new sector of the front line, asserting that they chose to desert as a result.
Previously, Alabuga's recruitment machine has already drawn international penalties beyond the EU measures. In May, the United Kingdom sanctioned 35 individuals and entities tied to networks luring migrants and foreign nationals into Russia's war economy, either sending them to the front or coercing them into weapons plants.
The measures specifically named the Alabuga Start program, linked to drone production at the already-sanctioned industrial facility.
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