JSC Alabuga has been using two programs to actively recruit young men and women, primarily aged 16-22, to make military drones: Alabuga Polytechnic is used to recruit students within Russia, and the Alabuga Start program is used to recruit workers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (also known as CIS countries) and other countries, primarily African countries. This deceptive and manipulative recruitment effort is intended primarily to enable JSC Alabuga to meet its ambitious Shahed 136 kamikaze drone production goals for the Russian military, a project that Russia steeps in secrecy, to the point of calling it motorboat manufacturing. Potential recruits are not told that they could be involved in producing Shahed 136 drones. Instead, when drone production work is mentioned, the recruitment process emphasizes the making of M5 drones, built in the same building as the Shahed 136 drones, but by a different company, Albatross LLC, and on a much smaller scale, and advertised for civilian use (but leaked documents and media reporting state that some fraction of the M5 drones have been used in Russian combat operations). Alabuga Polytechnic’s students and Alabuga Start’s recruits have produced thousands of Shahed drones and dozens, perhaps hundreds of Albatross M5 drones for Russian combat operations against Ukraine, often against civilian targets in the case of the Shahed 136 drones. For the Albatross M5 drone, participants are employed and trained in building the airframe, assembling and installing electronics, and testing the drone. For the Shahed 136 drone, they are involved in all aspects of making the drone. According to early internal Alabuga plans, many students and recruits worked on Albatross M5 production before participants were moved to work on producing Shahed 136 drones for JSC Alabuga. The Alabuga Start program primarily targets African women, using the promise of a high monthly salary (double what can be earned on average in their native country; and more than such a position would normally earn in Russia), work training, long-term accommodations and integration into Russian society. Twenty-seven countries are documented to have sent nationals to Alabuga through Alabuga Start. It is unknown whether any countries have withdrawn their participation, but they should do so immediately. If they continue to send workers, these countries directly support a U.S. and EU sanctioned entity and support Russia’s military efforts, thus risk getting sanctioned themselves.
via isis online: Youth Exploited for Military Drone Production at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone
siehe auch: Drohnen-Bau für Putin – Afrikanerinnen nach Russland gelockt Etwa 200 Frauen aus Afrika bauen in Russland Drohnen für den Einsatz im Ukraine-Krieg. Sie wurden offenbar mit falschen Versprechen angelockt. Wie eine Recherche der Nachrichtenagentur AP ergeben hat, sollen Frauen aus afrikanischen Ländern systematisch angeworben und ausgebeutet worden sein. Betroffene berichteten der AP, sie seien mit Werbeanzeigen in sozialen Netzwerken angelockt worden, die ihnen ein kostenloses Flugticket, Geld und ein Abenteuer in der Ferne versprochen hätten. Sie hätten ein Computerspiel und einen russischen Vokabeltest absolvieren müssen, der 100 Worte umfasst habe. Statt in einem Werksstudentenprogramm in Bereichen wie dem Gastgewerbe oder der Gastronomie hätten einige der Frauen nach ihrer Ankunft in der russischen Region Tatarstan jedoch erfahren, dass sie in einer Fabrik zur Herstellung von Kriegswaffen arbeiten müssen, berichteten die Frauen. Dort müssten sie im Iran entwickelte Drohnen zusammenbauen, mit denen die Ukraine angegriffen werde. Betroffene berichteten von langen Arbeitstagen unter ständiger Überwachung, gebrochenen Versprechen bezüglich Lohn und Studiengebieten sowie der Arbeit mit ätzenden Chemikalien, die Narben und Juckreiz verursachen.
