Russia is facing a severe labour shortage for producing its Shahed-style long-range attack drones and is now turning to North Korea for workers.
Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) says Moscow plans to bring in 12,000 North Korean labourers by the end of the year. These workers are reportedly destined for the Alabuga plant in Tatarstan, where most of Russia’s domestically made Shahed variants are assembled.
HUR reports that Russia is negotiating with the Jihyang Technology Trade Company, which serves as a front for Green Pine, North Korea’s main weapons-trading entity. Green Pine has been under U.S. sanctions since 2010 for its role in advancing North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
Russia has long recruited or coerced foreign workers for its defense industry, with recent investigations highlighting possible trafficking cases in African countries like Botswana. Even before the invasion of Ukraine, Russia relied heavily on migrant laborers—often called “gostarbeitery”—especially in remote regions suffering from demographic decline.
North Korean laborers have been particularly valued because their wages are paid directly to the Pyongyang regime. A 2017 U.S. State Department report described these workers as living in “slave-like conditions,” especially in logging camps, and estimated around 20,000 arrived each year.
With the war ongoing, the scale has grown, and Ukrainian officials believe roughly 20,000 North Koreans were already working in Russian weapons factories by October, while North Korea is also the only foreign government known to have sent soldiers to assist Russia—receiving military know-how in return.