Russian Drone Center Director Arrested on Fraud Charges
Authorities say the center received more than 1 billion rubles in funding before Grigoryev was jailed on fraud charges.
- On August 14, Yevgeny Grigoryev, general director of the state-backed TulaDrone research center, was arrested and jailed on large-scale fraud charges, though the detention only became public on Tuesday, August 25.
- Russian authorities launched the TulaDrone facility in 2025 as one of the country's 10 major hubs for military and civilian drone production, backed by over 1 billion rubles in total funding.
- Grigoryev faces charges under Part 4 of Article 159 of Russia's Criminal Code, which covers large-scale fraud, though authorities have disclosed no specific details regarding alleged transactions or amounts involved.
- This detention follows a series of similar fraud cases within Russia's drone industry in recent weeks, including arrests of Efko group chairman Valery Kustov and executives from manufacturer Drone Solutions.
- Employees at the TulaDrone facility reportedly remained unaware of the arrest until it became public, as Grigoryev had not appeared at work since August 14 and investigations continue.
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The head of Russia’s flagship Tula drone center is arrested on fraud charges
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.
The third Russian company involved in the closely watched development and production of drones has lost its top management. This is the TulaDron research and production center, which lost its CEO Yevgeny Grigoryev. He was imprisoned, like the heads of Drone Solutions and the division of Efko Transport Budushchevo (Transport of the Future), on suspicion of “fraud on an especially large scale.”
Russian drone center director arrested on fraud charges
The general director of a Russian state-backed drone development center was arrested and jailed on fraud charges, according to Russian outlets reporting August 25. Yevgeny Grigoryev, head of the TulaDrone Research and Production Center, was detained in Tula and ordered held for two months by a court on August 14, according to the local outlets […]
In Toulé, the Director General of the Tuladron UAV Science and Production Center, Eugenia Grigoriev, was detained...
The central court of Tula arrested the director of the scientific and manufacturing centre "Tuladron" Eugenia Grigoriev, reports to the judicial press. 17.33 million roubles were reportedly stolen from the court as a result of the fact that Grigoriev had been detained on 14 August on suspicion of fraud of a particularly large amount (article 159, paragraph 4 of the Criminal Code). "In the case of the investigation, Grigoriev, "as part of a group…
This is reported by Roszmi. In Russia, security forces in six days sent to the SIZO three current and former heads of companies related to the production of drones. The last was the general director of the scientific and production center “Tuladron” Yevgeny Grigoriev.He was detained on August 14, after which the court sent him to the prison for two months. Grigoriev was charged with fraud on a particularly large scale. Details of the case, in pa…
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