Arrests And Explosions: A Major Crackdown On Drone Manufacturers Has Begun In Russia

• 9.08.2026, 19:12

What is known.

There are clear signs of a major shake-up in Russia’s drone industry. Mass arrests of manufacturers have begun. Some have been the targets of assassination attempts.

“Dialog” examined the details.

Recently, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin appointed a new commander of the unmanned forces, placing career military officer Denis Lyamin at the head of this new branch of the armed forces. Yuri Vaganov, whom the Z-community nicknamed “Unitas,” was dismissed from this post. He was an entrepreneur who started out in plumbing and, during the war, switched to manufacturing UAVs for the Russian army. Now, it appears that Vaganov has lost his influence.

And this is not the only incident involving UAV manufacturers in Russia.

On August 9, the influential Russian news outlet “VChK-OGPU” reported the arrest in Moscow of the leadership of the company “Drone Solutions.” This is a major Russian developer of unmanned systems.

“The company’s former CEO, Irakli Khazalia, and its current CEO, Vyacheslav Barbasov (the company’s founder), were sent to a pretrial detention center. Both are also minority shareholders of ‘Drone Solutions,’” the news outlet reported. Both are accused of embezzlement.

Shortly before that, Alla Polovcheni, deputy head of the Department of Unmanned Systems and Robotics at the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, was arrested. The management and owners of another major UAV manufacturer, “Efko,” were also arrested.

Amid the ongoing arrests, Vladimir Tkachuk , CEO of UralDroneZavod , was the victim of a bomb attack near Yekaterinburg. He sustained serious injuries.