Russia employs up to 25,000 North Koreans in drone plants, MSMT says

September 17, 2026 at 02:07 PM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

Russia has deployed up to 25,000 North Korean workers in its military drone industry, including at the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan, according to a report by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT) published on September 16. The workers enter Russia under student visas and earn an average of $7,500 a year, five times what they could earn in China. The scheme provides Pyongyang with up to $800 million annually to fund its nuclear and missile programs.

Key Facts

Up to 25,000 North Korean citizens work in Russia's drone production sector, including at the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan.
North Korean workers enter Russia under student visas and earn an average of $7,500 per year, five times the income available in China.
North Korean overseas workers generated up to $800 million for the Kim Jong Un regime in the past year, funding nuclear and missile programs in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
The MSMT was established in October 2024 by the United States and South Korea and includes 11 member states.

Drone Production Workforce

Russia's drone manufacturing sector employs up to 25,000 North Korean citizens, according to the MSMT report. The workers are concentrated at facilities in the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan. To bypass sanctions, North Korean laborers enter Russia under the guise of students. Their average annual earnings are $7,500, a sum five times higher than what they could earn in China.

Revenue for Pyongyang

North Korean authorities confiscate most of the workers' earnings, and in some cases the amount seized exceeded the workers' actual wages. Overseas North Korean workers brought the Kim Jong Un regime up to $800 million in revenue last year. These funds financed nuclear and missile programs developed in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. The report states that Russia-North Korea military cooperation now extends beyond arms supplies and troop deployments into labor and industrial production.

MSMT Structure and Mandate

The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team was created in October 2024 on the initiative of the United States and South Korea to monitor sanctions against North Korea. The group includes 11 member states. Its creation followed Russia's 2024 dissolution of the UN expert panel that had reported on Pyongyang's sanctions evasion and nuclear weapons development for 15 years. MSMT publications are based on intelligence data from member states' security services.