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First look inside Putin’s secret ‘death’ factory where teenagers build drones
Metro UK ^ | 7/21/2025 | Gergana Krasteva

Posted on 07/21/2025 6:52:49 AM PDT by marcusmaximus

Vladimir Putin has pulled back the curtain on what has been described as the ‘largest and most secret’ drone factory ahead of a joint naval drill with Iran.

Footage – a blend of Cold War secrecy and TikTok-era propaganda – offers a rare glimpse of the Yelabuga production facility in the Russian republic of Tatarstan.

Recorded by Zvezda, the Russian defence ministry’s TV channel, it shows the star of Putin’s war in Ukraine – the ‘Geran-2’ drones.

This is the Kremlin’s locally branded version of Iranian-designed Shahed 136.

-snip-

Above the entrance to the factory, a giant screen read, ‘Kurchatov, Korolyov and Stalin are living in your DNA,’ featuring portraits of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, Soviet nuclear physicist Igor Kurchatov and the father of the Soviet space programme Sergei Korolev.

But perhaps the most surreal detail is not the scale of the drone operation at Yelabuga and who is building them.

Teenagers – some barely old enough to drive – have bee recruited to work on the assembly lines at the factory.

They are shown working at various stages of the production process, highlighting a recruitment programme targeting students as young as 15 from local technical colleges.

(Excerpt) Read more at metro.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: 2ndlargestarmylol; axisofspamming; chanceofheavymugasm; dailyzeeperporn; geran2; gerganakrasteva; iran; islam; kazantatarstan; marcusridiculous; putin; putinfanshardesthit; putinsfolly; putinswar; ruinedmugasm; russia; shahed136; spamuk; spamusmaximus; stalin; tatarstan; zeeperporn

1 posted on 07/21/2025 6:52:49 AM PDT by marcusmaximus
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To: marcusmaximus

I doubt any teenagers are there by force. At that age, they’re excited to help. They’re enthusiastic, quick and have excellent motor skills. (Try playing a 15 year-old at any FPR game. By the time you reach for the trigger, he’s already got you.)

Promise them a deal on a Trabant down the road, and they’re in.


2 posted on 07/21/2025 7:01:57 AM PDT by Not_Who_U_Think
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To: marcusmaximus

U.S.A. Drones got some Catching Up to do.
.
SWARM !


3 posted on 07/21/2025 7:06:00 AM PDT by Big Red Badger (ALL Things Will be Revealed !)
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To: Not_Who_U_Think

Shouldnt the quotes be around secret? Not death?


4 posted on 07/21/2025 7:15:39 AM PDT by MrRelevant
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To: marcusmaximus

What? Russian teenagers doing useful, patriotic work at factories, rather than acting goofy like American teenagers? Oh, the horror of it all.


5 posted on 07/21/2025 7:16:41 AM PDT by Socon-Econ (adi)
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To: Not_Who_U_Think

Trabants were East German.

You’re thinking of the Lada.


6 posted on 07/21/2025 7:19:29 AM PDT by Tailback
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To: marcusmaximus

How unlike the USSA where our MIC with unlimited FedBux turns our whole economy into one big death factory. Did you really think the rush to AI is meant to help you, peasant?


7 posted on 07/21/2025 8:05:51 AM PDT by bakeneko
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To: marcusmaximus

Not a very good secret.


8 posted on 07/21/2025 9:23:58 AM PDT by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: Not_Who_U_Think

They’ll love the front lines once their factory job is replaced by the next excited teen.


9 posted on 07/21/2025 9:37:03 AM PDT by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes.)
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To: Not_Who_U_Think
"I doubt any teenagers are there by force. At that age, they’re excited to help."

And they're not being forced to serve on the front lines.

10 posted on 07/21/2025 12:13:34 PM PDT by mass55th (“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” ― John Wayne)
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To: Tailback

I stand corrected about the Trabant. :0) Thanks!


11 posted on 07/21/2025 3:35:52 PM PDT by Not_Who_U_Think
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To: marcusmaximus

“Teenagers – some barely old enough to drive “

The horror. I got my first job at sixteen.


12 posted on 07/21/2025 10:20:22 PM PDT by rxh4n1
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