Owners of Russian Arctic drone maker arrested on fraud charges

The former and current heads of Drone Solutions, a company producing drones designed for extreme northern conditions, have been detained. The measure was authorized by the Kuzminsky District Court in Moscow, according to Kommersant.

The case involves CEO Vyacheslav Barbasov and his predecessor in that position, Irakli Khazalia. They are suspected of large-scale fraud under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code, which carries a penalty of up to ten years in prison. Details of the allegations have not been disclosed.

According to public records, Drone Solutions LLC was registered in Moscow in February 2018. Barbasov holds about 40% of the company, while Khazalia owns a minority stake. Roughly 23% belongs to the Foundation for Support of National Technology Initiative Projects.

The company develops unmanned aircraft systems, software, and computer vision technology. Its production facilities are located in Moscow, with a branch on Sakhalin Island. Drone Solutions aircraft are built to operate in extreme temperatures, from minus 25 degrees Celsius in the Arctic to plus 45 degrees in Africa. They are used for monitoring, inspections, cargo delivery, and search-and-rescue operations, including icebreaking support for vessels in the Kara Sea and Emergency Ministry missions.

In July 2026, GLONASS JSC reported that the company's fixed-wing drone, named Aist, had completed its first real medical delivery on Sakhalin. The aircraft covered 32 km from a hospital to a populated area in 19 minutes, twice as fast as a car. The drone is equipped with a thermal container powered by the onboard network, which maintains the required temperature regardless of outside conditions.

The arrests of Drone Solutions executives are the latest in a series of detentions in Russia's drone industry. A week earlier, on July 30, 2026, Alla Polovchenya, deputy head of the unmanned systems and robotics department at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, was taken into custody on suspicion of large-scale embezzlement. At the same time, Ekaterina Kustova, deputy development director at EFKO Group, and the development director of the management company were also detained.