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Iranwire – Satellite imagery shows progress in the construction of a factory in Russia that will mass produce Iranian-designed Shahed-136 kamikaze drones to be used in the Kremlin’swar in Ukraine, according to a Washington-based research institute.
The plant is located at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, 800 kilometers east of Moscow in Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan. The factory belongs to JSC Alabuga, a company owned by the Russian federal government and the Republic of Tatarstan.
“With winter fast approaching, and Alabuga’s Shahed output increasing, Russia can be expected to accelerate its Shahed-136 attacks against Ukraine’s vital energy infrastructure, causing brutal living conditions for the civilian population,” the Institute for Science and International Security said in a report published on November 13.
“A key, overdue first step is for the United States and its allies to sanction JSC Alabuga and its associated companies,” it continued.
According to the report, a mid-September satellite image showed that new construction at the plant “directly” correlated with a leaked building floor plan that the Washington Post shared with the institute earlier this year.
The building, according to other leaked documents, will be used to mass produce Shahed-136 that will include “improving and streamlining” Iranian fabrication processes and “ultimately advancing the drone’s capabilities,” the report said.
It said the satellite image also showed the construction of other structures and “new security perimeters, including a large wall with checkpoints.”
In June, the United States said it had information that, in addition to supplying drones, Tehran was working with Moscow to produce Iranian drones in Alabuga that could be fully operational early next year.
The European Union, the United States, the UK and other countries have issued multiple rounds of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran in recent months over its crackdown on dissent and its supply of drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine.
The West has also imposed sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
