On her first day of work, Adau realised she had made a big mistake.

"We got our uniforms, not even knowing exactly what we were going to do. From the first day of work we were taken to the drones factory. We stepped in and we saw drones everywhere and people working. Then they took us to our different work stations."

Twenty-three-years-old and originally from South Sudan, Adau says last year she was lured to the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia, on the promise of a full-time job.

She had applied to the Alabuga Start programme, a recruitment scheme targeting 18-to-22-year-old women, mostly from Africa but also increasingly from Latin America and South-East Asia. It promises participants professional training in areas including logistics, catering and hospitality.

But the programme has been accused of using deception in its recruitment practices, and of making its young recruits work in dangerous conditions for less pay than advertised. It denies all these allegations but did not deny that some employees were helping to build drones.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdrzdpre058o 

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“Nobody’s perfect”…. The Russian Military effort demands hands on deck… But in my book the report by the BBC is biased against Russia — and Alabuga in particular. Alabuga is a vast technical industrial which on all appearances is clean and efficient — a zillion times better than some of the factories Gus has worked in the West. 

'My skin was peeling' - the African women tricked into making Russian drones

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As well, some of the products used in making drones are not “friendly” to the health of workers… My understanding is that the drones are made of thin fibreglass shells. Anyone who has made fibreglass products know that resins and catalysts are a health hazard… Say, I had a friend, having worked with fibreglass for the best of 50 years with bare hands, chained-smoked and drank red wine by the gallons, died aged 86, probably of “old age”.

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“The workers were not allowed to take pictures inside the facility, but the BBC showed Adau footage broadcast on Russian state-owned TV station RT of a factory in Alabuga making Iranian Shahed 136 drones. She confirmed to us that this was where she worked.

"The reality of the Alabuga Special Economic Zone is that it's a war production facility," says Spencer Faragasso from the Institute For Science And International Security.

"Russia has openly admitted that they are producing and building Shahed 136 drones there in videos that they released publicly. They boast about the site. They boast about its accomplishments."

Spencer says that like Adau, many of the women they interviewed who worked in the programme said they had no idea they would be building weapons.”

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Taking pictures inside a “restricted area” where processes are either secret or not for public release isn’t exclusive to Russia… One might remember Vanunu who took pictures inside Israel’s nuke weapons facilities. He’s still in prison, as far as we know, after an escapade than even took him to King’s Cross, Sydney, Australia.

How many women were interviewed by Spencer Faragasso? Why was he asking questions or did the women complained to him personally? Did he prompt them?

Spencer Faragasso from the Institute For Science And International Security is a Western asset, whose job is to spy on Russia and other non-western-aligned countries…

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Spencer August Faragasso is a Senior Fellow with the Institute for Science and International Security (the Institute). He focuses on North Korea, Iran, Russia, and the use of advanced drones in the war in Ukraine. Mr. Faragasso is a graduate of American University and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with a concentration in policy. During his time with the Institute, Mr. Faragasso has been accredited as a co-author of several books: Illicit Trade Networks: Connecting the Dots (2020) and both the Institutes 2021/2022 and 2023/2024 editions of the Peddling Peril Index (PPI).  

Mr. Faragasso has also conducted extensive open-source research on Russian and Iranian advanced conventional drone systems. His work has contributed to uncovering numerous critical components used in Russian and Iranian drones produced by Western firms as well as a drone production facility in Russia, the first public report of its kind on the facility. Outside of advanced conventional drone systems, Mr. Faragasso has co-authored and published technical reports on nuclear facilities in Iran and North Korea, drawing on satellite imagery analysis, international IAEA reports, and expertise from himself and report co-authors. 

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SO, WHAT is the Institute For Science And International Security?

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The Institute for Science and International Security is a non-profit, non-partisan institution dedicated to informing the public about science and policy issues affecting international security. Its primary focus is on stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and related technology to additional nations and to terrorists, bringing about greater transparency of nuclear activities worldwide, strengthening the international non-proliferation regime, and achieving deep cuts in nuclear arsenals. The Institute is widely recognized both as a source of authoritative information on nuclear programs in states that seek or possess nuclear weapons and an important contributor to efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. The Institute’s projects integrate technical, scientific, and policy research in order to build a sound foundation for a wide variety of efforts to reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons to U.S. and international security.

The Institute for Science and International Security was founded in 1993 on a belief that scientists have an obligation to play an active role in finding solutions to important national and international security problems. Since its inception, the Institute has produced internationally recognized technical assessments of proliferant-state efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. The Institute has an established record of distributing its findings and analysis widely among government officials, scientists, experts, the media, and the general public. Media and government officials in turn often seek out the Institute for independent analysis on non-proliferation topics. During times of international crisis, the Institute’s balanced and credible analysis is often found at the center of public debates. It has worked regularly in the U.S. and abroad to unite government officials, independent experts, scientists, and the public in efforts to find credible strategies to solve U.S., regional, and global security problems.

In over three decades of experience, the Institute has demonstrated its ability to employ science in the pursuit of international peace.  Its effectiveness as a non-governmental organization has been consistently recognized by the Global “Go-To Think Tanks” rankings, which consistently places it in the top 25 Science and Technology Think Tanks in the world.

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proliferant-state?…..

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Yes we know… the list of countries the institute spies upon is listed:

Algeria

Greater MENA (Arabic Sunni “Empire” from Morocco to Jordan?)

India

Iran

Iraq

Israel

Japan

Korean Peninsula

Libya

Myanmar

Pakistan

South Africa Syria

Taiwan

Yugoslavia (?)

Russia

China….

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Do We see: USA, UK, France, Germany, Poland on that list?… 

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So, as far as Gus can see, some Indian women did not understand much… Their pay packet was reduced by taxation and the skin of their hands was troubled… My guess is that while removing the protective gear, which was supplied, they could have spilled some of the product which my friend, the chain-smoker, plunged his bare hands in. By the end of the day, hands were being washed in ACETONE…

Acetone is a potent chemical solvent that is frequently used to clean, degrease, strip lacquers, waxes, resins and paints. For this reason, Acetone is commonly used in varied industrial applications.

In composite applications, Acetone will dissolve and remove epoxy, polyester and vinyl ester resin from tools, brushes and surfaces. Acetone will effectively remove wax and grease for surface preparation prior to bonding.

Acetone, even used in “BEAUTY PRODUCTS” (nail polish et al) is not very friendly to the skin…

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And yes, the Indian women did signed a contract in Russian… When they decided to leave, they were allowed so after two weeks… In many countries in the West, we need to give FOUR weeks notice, unless we get the sack on the spot: “YOU’RE FIRED”…

And I witnessed the death of the butterfly… Looking like a drone, its last motion was a tragedy in slow-motion… I took a picture.

Gus Leonisky

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.