Bloomberg reports that South African authorities have launched an investigation into Russian companies recruiting local women under BRICS projects. The concern is that the women may not be hired for civilian jobs, but instead sent to a factory producing attack drones.
A key recruiter is the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Tatarstan. In early 2025, the BRICS Student Commission in South Africa published job postings in construction and hospitality for women aged 18–22. Local Instagram and TikTok bloggers helped spread the ads. In May, the South African branch of the BRICS Women’s Business Alliance signed an agreement committing to provide Alabuga and the company Etalonstroy Ural with 5,600 workers by 2026.
An aerial view of the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, 2022.
Yet it is in Alabuga that production of Shahed kamikaze drones is based. As early as 2024, Associated Press reported that women from Africa and Asia were being recruited through the online program “Alabuga Start.” Many discovered they were assigned to a military facility only after arriving in Tatarstan. According to Bloomberg, in April program representatives visited a Johannesburg educational institution and distributed promotional materials about work in Russia—with no mention of weapons manufacturing.
A pamphlet for the “Alabuga Start” program handed out at an event in Botswana.
Researchers from the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security and experts from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime note that a significant share of Alabuga Start participants ultimately ended up at the drone factory.
South Africa’s Ministry of International Relations told Bloomberg: "The government is actively investigating reports of foreign programs recruiting South Africans under false pretenses. So far, there is no conclusive evidence that job offers in Russia differ from their stated goals. But the authorities have taken note of the alleged recruitment of young people by Alabuga." According to the agency’s sources, officials may summon Russian diplomats for clarification.
Wreckage of a Russian Shahed-136 drone in Kharkiv.
The context is compounded by South Africa’s dire labor market: one-third of the working-age population is unemployed, and joblessness among women under 34 exceeds 48 percent. This makes offers of work in Russia particularly attractive. Meanwhile, “Alabuga Start” has been actively running campaigns in other African countries—Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Botswana. In Lesotho, authorities have already issued warnings about the potential risks of such programs.