The Russian drone manufacturing industry is undergoing a sweeping crackdown: multiple corporate executives have been arrested in succession.
The general manager of the Tula Drone Research and Production Center, Yevgeny Grigoryev, was apprehended (arrested on August 14th, with recent information only now being disclosed). He has been detained for two months on suspicion of a major fraud case. Nearly 700 million rubles in federal budget funds were allocated by Russia to this key military-industrial hub for drones. Investigations have revealed widespread misappropriation of these funds and improper use of the allocated resources.
These cases signify that Russia is launching a large-scale cleanup and rectification campaign targeting domestic drone manufacturers.
A week ago, the current general manager of Drone Solutions Company, Vyacheslav Balbashov, along with his predecessor Irakli Kazaria, were approved for arrest by the court; just one week prior, Valery Kustov, head of the food giant Evco, was also arrested in connection with the case. This company, which dominates Russia's grain and oil market, has ventured into drone development—an expansion whose underlying motives remain questionable.
Observers are wondering which other corporate leaders will be investigated next, and whether this anti-corruption campaign can bring about standardized development in the drone industry, a core component of modern warfare.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1874486165722122/
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