A Ukrainian prankster infiltrated a closed-door Russian government meeting on drone production, exposing Moscow’s near-total dependence on Chinese components for its military drone program.
Yevhen Volnov published a video of the breach on Friday. The Telegram channel Astra drew attention to it and identified several of the participants. The meeting was held by video conference at Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The recording captures officials discussing supply chains for unmanned aerial vehicles, with one participant acknowledging that nearly all electrical components used in Russian drones are sourced abroad.
One female participant, speaking off camera, said her company had run into a “raw materials problem” affecting battery production and asked what percentage of raw materials in finished products should be foreign-made. She said Russia cannot source materials available in other countries, adding that copper wire “is made exclusively in China. So if you’re just looking at electrical components, 90% of what we use has always been foreign raw materials. It’s just not made in Russia.”
A separate participant confirmed that even basic plastic is no longer made domestically — “because there’s no Russian plastic.”
In the second part of the video, Mr. Volnov broke into the call, asking “Colleagues, can you hear me?” before hurling vulgar insults at the participants. Russian officials scrambled to cut off the live connection as he continued.
Mr. Volnov then warned the assembled officials that their identities had been captured. “All your ugly faces are on camera now, so gentlemen, watch your backs,” he said, specifically singling out one official. “Yeah, you, baldy — you first.”
He closed by declaring: “You yourself admitted at the meeting — without China, nothing flies,” before signing off with “Glory to the Armed Forces of Ukraine!”
According to Mr. Volnov and the Telegram channel Astra, the meeting was attended by Alexei Serdyuk, head of the Industry and Trade Ministry’s unmanned systems and robotics department — the official Mr. Volnov called “baldy” — as well as Alexander Plotnikov, another senior drone department staffer, and Daniil Abulov, who serves as a liaison between drone manufacturers and the Defense Ministry. The Industry and Trade Ministry has not commented on the leak.
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