Alabuga Start: The program trafficking African women to build suicide drones in Russia

Dozens of African women are working in Russian factories to build Shahed-136 drones which kill Ukrainian civilians, including women and children. Since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has turned to young African women to fill manpower shortages in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone. How did they end up there?

Coercion and Deception

The Alabuga START program misleads young women and their families, promising them salaries and education, as well as a visa to work in Russia.
Instead, women in Alabuga report being "trapped" and unable to leave, receiving lower than promised pay, and being forced to manufacture weapons in unsafe conditions.

Read more to find out about the organizations deceiving young women to come to Russia

The recruiters

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Elmir Saitullin

Racism and Prostitution

Alabuga START only recruits African and Asian women aged between 18 to 22. These women have experienced high levels of racism, with Russian supervisors calling them “mulattoes” and other derogatory terms.

The women are subject to sexual abuse and exploitation, with some being forced to turn to prostitution to support themselves.

Human Trafficking

Nearly 200 women from several African and Asian countries are present working at Alabuga START. They cannot leave the Special Economic Zone, let alone return to their home countries. They are subject to curfews and forbidden from talking about their involvement in manufacturing drones – and those that do face threats and fines.
They receive low pay, and sometimes no pay at all. They are promised education and economic opportunities, but face exploitation in harsh conditions.

According to the UN, human trafficking is “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit”.

Working in a Warzone

Alabuga is part of Russia’s war economy. It is producing weapons which are killing women and children in Ukraine. In April 2024, a factory in Alabuga was attacked by a drone. The women – who are not warned about the risks – are exposed to serious dangers working in this environment. In addition to drone attacks, women work with chemicals without being provided protective gear resulting in skin conditions and constant itching.

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Find Your Relatives

Perhaps your relatives are now in Alabuga or are being forcibly held in another region of Russia.

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