Up to 25,000 North Koreans may be making military drones in Russia. Sanctions monitors say they enter on student visas.
As many as 25,000 North Korean citizens may be working in military drone production in Russia, including at the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan, according to a report by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT), which includes the United States, South Korea, Japan, and eight other countries.
The report says North Korean workers enter Russia on student visas under a scheme that allows them to circumvent U.N. sanctions. They can earn up to five times more in Russia than in neighboring China. Each worker earns an average of about $7,500 a year, most of which the North Korean authorities take.
As of late 2025, between 15,000 and 30,000 North Korean citizens were working in Russia, while between 20,000 and 70,000 were working in China. The report says North Koreans working abroad earned up to $800 million in 2025 and that North Korea uses the money to fund its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
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