Yevgeny Grigoryev, the general director of TulaDron, a research and production center for unmanned aircraft systems, has been detained in Tula, the local news outlet Myslo reported, citing sources.
According to Myslo, a court ordered Grigoryev held in pretrial detention for two months, effective August 14, on charges of large-scale fraud (Part 4, Article 159 of Russia’s Criminal Code).
The Telegram channel Mash, which has close ties to Russia’s security services, also reported the arrest.
In 2025, Tula region authorities announced TulaDron’s launch, with plans for it to become one of the country’s 10 largest such facilities, developing and producing both military and civilian drones. Tula Governor Dmitry Milyaev said 1 billion rubles had been allocated for the center’s launch, including 678.5 million rubles from the federal budget.
Russia has seen several arrests among drone manufacturers in recent weeks. In late July, billionaire Valery Kustov — chairman of the board and principal shareholder of the Efko group — was arrested in Moscow on suspicion of large-scale fraud, in a case tied to the Transport of the Future project to develop unmanned aircraft systems. A Moscow court also ordered Vyacheslav Barbasov and Irakli Khazalia, the current and former general directors of drone manufacturer Drone Solutions, jailed pending trial.
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