The investigation was prepared in partnership with Latvian broadcaster TV3, with support from the OCCRP Research and Data team and Cyber Partisans.

Accomplices in the “human safari”

“Where will we hide when the leaves fall? The hunting season for people will begin,” Kherson resident Olha Chernyshova told the Kyiv Independent in the fall of 2024. A week before that conversation, a drone had dropped an explosive device on her car.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says there have been several hundred such attacks on civilians and civilian targets in Kherson using small quadcopters since June 2024. By the end of May 2025, nearly 150 people had been killed in these attacks, according to the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine. The assaults continued through the summer of 2025. One of them was reported by The Telegraph in July, when a year-old child was killed in a drone strike in Kherson. Media outlets have described these actions by Russian forces as a “human safari.” Their main goal, according to experts, is to spread fear among the civilian population.

Manufacturers of quadcopter drones used in these “human safaris” have officially banned sales to both Russia and Ukraine. Yet these drones — alongside civilian-purpose models — continue to be sold to Russia, among others, by Belarusian companies. BIC obtained records of drone shipments from Belarus to Russia of various types between 2022 and June 2025. By our estimate, 14 Belarusian companies sold drones worth about $34 million. In this investigation, we will highlight three of the largest suppliers, whose clients included companies linked to Russia’s military industry.

Belarusian Mavics…

The world’s largest drone manufacturer is the Chinese company DJI. Its share of the global drone market is estimated at 70%. In 2022, DJI suspended operations in Russia and Ukraine, yet it remains the most popular brand of drones used in the war — by both sides.

In the summer of 2025, Human Rights Watch also reported that Russia was using Chinese drones in the war. Its experts identified quadcopters that Russian forces had used in attacks on civilians in Kherson. These included drones made by the Chinese companies DJI and Autel, as well as a model produced by a Russian group based on the P. A. Sudoplatov battalion, which calls itself a “volunteer organization.” In response to HRW’s inquiry, DJI and Autel acknowledged that Russian forces are using their drones in combat.

The most widely used DJI drones in the war have been Mavics — quadcopters from the Mavic line. These drones are deployed for reconnaissance, targeting and attacks. During the war, they have been reprogrammed to remove tracking features, modified into other types of drones, reverse-engineered, featured in stories, and funded through public donation drives.

“The DJI Mavic series are extremely popular and are still among the most-requested and most-used ... on the Russian side,” David Hambling, a British journalist who covers defense and technology, told BIC. According to him, Russians widely use Mavics to deploy mines, including PFM-1 “Lepestok” anti-personnel mines. Ukrainian intelligence also told BIC that Russia is using DJI quadcopters, including the DJI Matrice 30T, DJI Matrice 3T, Mavic 3 Pro and Mavic 3 models.

In May 2022, Belarus’ Defense Ministry also showed interest in these drones. The ministry decided at the time to purchase 56 DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced quadcopters. The supplier chosen was STAA Hobi-Park (a limited liability company under the laws of Belarus), registered in Minsk. The contract was worth more than 1.8 million Belarusian rubles (about $700,000).

BIC found that Hobi-Park is the largest supplier of aircraft from Belarus to Russia. Its sales totaled $14.3 million. That accounts for about half the value of all drones sold by Belarusian companies to Russia from the start of the full-scale war through June 2025. In 2022, the company’s profit jumped nearly 27-fold to $9.7 million (in the next two years it dropped to $3 million and $1.7 million, but still remained several times higher than in 2021).

The company supplied Russia with quadcopters and batteries made in Belarus and China, including various Mavic models. For example, in 2022 it sent 743 DJI Mavic drones to Russia.

In 2023, DJI described Hobi-Park as its official dealer in a comment to Current Time.

...with links to the military

Hobi-Park has been around for 15 years. The company was founded in 2010 by Oleg Badera, a Russian born in Crimea a former adviser to Russia’s deputy transport minister, and Belarusian entrepreneur Dmitriy Kurnosenka. [*] [*] In December 2011, ownership passed to Belarusians Viсtor Pylaev and his elder son Daniil (Pylayeu). [*] Other members of the Pylaev family also worked at Hobi-Park: according to Cyber Partisans, Daniil’s wife Volha (Pylayeva) was employed as a cashier and administrator, and Victor’s younger son Mikhail (Pylayeu), who was born in Riga, worked there as a salesman.

Hobi-Park supplied 2,827 drones to Russia, including models manufactured by DJI. While most of its customers had no apparent ties to military structures, BIC discovered that some of them were directly or indirectly connected to Russia’s defense industry and arms trade.

Hobi-Park’s next two clients were not only the company’s biggest buyers but also connected to each other. The first was OOO Positron (limited liability company under Russian law). In August, October and November 2022, the company bought 1,026 drones from Hobi-Park for nearly $7 million. The second, OOO Tiger-Gun (limited liability company under Russian law), purchased 45 drones worth $268,000 between June and October 2022. The beneficial owner of Positron is Alexander Pismenny, according to estimates of a local publication, in 2023 he was among the third ten richest residents of the Rostov region. The owner of Tiger-Gun is Lidiya Pismennaya, and we have reason to believe she is Alexander’s mother.

Dmitry Mikheev, director of Tiger-Gun, is a member of the board of trustees of a foundation led by Colonel General Vladimir Shamanov, a member of the Russian Parliament. Shamanov has been under U.S. sanctions since September 2022, and the EU sanctioned him in 2014 for deploying Russia’s airborne forces in Crimea. The beneficial owner of Positron, Alexander Pismenny, also owns OOO Spektr. The company’s listed activities include the production of weapons and ammunition.

Another Hobi-Park’s client, OOO Nebesnaya Mekhanika (limited liability company under Russian law) in November 2023, bought 3 DJI drones worth $50,000 from Hobi-Park. A year later, on October 30, 2024, the company came under U.S. sanctions for “engaging in the wholesales UAVs purchased outside Russia and provides drones and equipment in support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Among Hobi-Park’s buyers was also AO Pergam-Engineering (joint-stock company under Russian law), which in its own presentation says it is trusted by “security agencies (the FSO, FSB, Interior Ministry, etc.) and enterprises of Russia’s defense industry.” From November 2022 to December 2023, Pergam-Engineering purchased 13 DJI Mavic 3 drones worth $77,000 from Hobi-Park.

From October 2023 to January 2025, Hobi-Park supplied 31 Mavic 3 quadcopters worth $119,000  to OOO EFT Group (limited liability company under Russian law). This firm works with OOO GK Tikhiye Krylya (limited liability company under Russian law), which is part of AO Kalashnikov Concern (joint-stock company under Russian law). Kalashnikov Concern, in turn, is part of State Corporation Rostec, Russia’s main arms producer.

“Not much interest in working with Belarusians.”

BIC asked one of Hobi-Park’s co-owners, Daniil Pylayeu, to comment on the deliveries described above. He declined: “Unfortunately, I can’t discuss this matter, my apologies.” In a phone conversation with a BIC journalist, the businessman said that at present, “for better or worse,” the company is not selling anything to Russia.

The company likely is not selling to Russia because “[DJI] isn’t very eager to work with Belarusians.” Those were the words of a manager that a BIC journalist spoke to posing as a potential client. Delivery timelines for orders were unclear: “That’s why we don’t want to put ourselves at risk, and we don’t want to put our clients at risk either,” the employee explained. She added that Hobi-Park is “shifting” customers to Autel, another Chinese drone maker that has also banned the use of its products in the war. At the same time, Hobi-Park remains an official DJI distributor, another company manager confirmed to us. According to him, delivery times for the Chinese manufacturer’s products are about two months, but “there may be force majeure” since there are difficulties “on all sides.”

We also sent a request to DJI, asking why the company works with Hobi-Park, which sells its drones to firms tied to Russia’s defense industry, even though in the summer of 2023 it told Current Time that none of its clients were explicitly planning to use the products in combat or to help modify them for military purposes. “All our distributors are required to sign export control agreements and commitment letters to avoid any diversion of products to restricted parties,” DJI’s PR team told BIC. The manufacturer said it “strongly opposes” any attempts to modify its products for combat use.

"So what’s the point of a helicopter drone then?"

Among Belarusian suppliers we found not only resellers but also drone manufacturers. TAA Alfa Aryjon (a limited liability company under Belarusian law), part of the aOrion group of companies and a resident of the High Technology Park, sells to Russia its own development — the Heli-E helicopter-type drone, capable of carrying up to 8 kilograms of cargo. Over two years, from September 2022 through December 2024, the company supplied products worth $3.1 million to Russian organizations linked to the defense industry.

In December 2022, Russia’s AO NPP Radar MMS (joint-stock company under Russian law) purchased a Heli-E drone from Alfa Aryjon for $60,000. The company develops guidance systems for precision weapons, including Kalibr missiles, as well as radar systems and drones. NPP Radar MMS has been under U.S. sanctions since June 28, 2022, and under EU sanctions since February 23, 2024.

Alfa Aryjon’s second partner in Russia, OOO GK Tikhie Krylya, is part of the Kalashnikov Concern. From September through December 2023, and again in January and December 2024, Alfa Aryjon supplied the Russian company with Belarusian drones and components worth more than $2.6 million.

Despite sales to companies linked to the defense industry, there is no evidence that the Heli-E has been used in the war against Ukraine, Nikolai Mitrokhin, an associate researcher at the Center for East European Studies at the University of Bremen, told BIC. He also noted the drone’s limited effectiveness:

“The heavier the transport vehicle, the more it usually costs. And the less it carries, the higher the cost of transport. Accordingly, helicopter drones are clearly much more expensive than quadcopters while carrying less. ... This helicopter has a takeoff weight of 26.7 kilograms and a payload capacity of only 7 kilograms. By contrast, an FPV drone (first-person view drone, equipped with a camera that streams video in real time — editor's note.) carries at least a third of its own weight. And at twice the speed. We won’t even get into the cost of the models. The question is: what’s the point of a helicopter drone that can haul only four bottles of water?”

A possible answer to that question lies in several substitutions uncovered by BIC investigators.

“An oversized and overpriced drone”

Tikhiye Krylya, the company that bought the Heli-E from Alfa Aryjon, showcased a helicopter on its website and on the Kalashnikov Concern’s site under its own brand. The specifications and appearance of the models are almost identical, but the drone is presented under a different name: Alpha-E.

A similar rebranding maneuver was likely carried out with the product of one of the largest Belarusian drone suppliers to Russia — ZAT KBBV (closed joint stock company under Belarusian law). Among other products, this company makes the Hunter unmanned helicopter, designed to track and destroy other drones, armored vehicles and people. It was unveiled in 2021 as “the world’s first unmanned reconnaissance and strike helicopter.” A year later, Russia’s largest arms producer, Rostec, showcased it at the Army-2022 exhibition under the name BAS-750, without mentioning the Belarusian developers.

Another KBBV development became the basis for another Russian heavy drone — the BAS-200. It was scheduled to go into production in 2023 in Bashkortostan at the facilities of AO Kumertau Aviation Production Enterprise or KumAPP (joint-stock company under Russian law). It operates under AO Vertolety Rossii (Russian Helicopters – joint-stock company under Russian law), which is part of the state corporation Rostec. The company produces various types of helicopters for the Russian Navy and is under U.S. and EU sanctions.

BIC journalists found several instances where Belarusian-made UAVs were likely passed off as Russian BAS-200 drones. In December 2022, Bashkortostan Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Sheldyaev announced that ten BAS-200 units were ready — that same month, KBBV delivered eight helicopter-type drones to KumAPP. In 2023, KBBV once again supplied drones to KumAPP — this time 20 units. They were likely ordered with a surplus, since the plant was scheduled to produce ten BAS-200s in 2024. In total, by our estimate, in December 2022, January and March 2023, KBBV sold 28 helicopter-type drones of Belarusian origin to Russia’s KumAPP for nearly $12 million.

At the same time, as with the Heli-E drone, three experts told BIC they had heard nothing about the Belarusian company KBBV’s designs being used in the war with Ukraine.

“They are too large and expensive to supply the front line and easier to shoot down. At 15 to 20 kilometers from the front line, cargo can be delivered by vehicle. In theory they could be used for the rapid evacuation of the wounded, but I doubt anyone in the Russian army will bother with that,” Nikolai Mitrokhin told BIC.

There can be many reasons for manipulating the labeling of equipment and purchasing ineffective drones, the expert explained: “Sometimes money is spent on development, everything gets approved, but production funding doesn’t come through because field tests went badly, or because the money is needed for other programs, and so on.”

Mitrokhin also did not rule out a case of embezzling budget funds. In December 2022, Bashkortostan Deputy Prime Minister Sheldyaev reported that the BAS-200 production project had received 800 million rubles (about $12.3 million) from the federal budget. The cost of launching mass production of the BAS-200 was estimated at 1.8 billion rubles (nearly $25 million). According to the official version, most of the budget went toward certifying the drone, including building prototypes and a testing base.

From a Belarusian extremist to Russia’s defense industry

Alfa Aryjon was founded in 2017 by Vadzim Chareuka. [*] [*] In 2024, the firm passed to his father-in-law, Siarhei Zasukhin. [*] Among Alfa Aryjon’s employees, BIC found a man who in the 1990s was described as Aleksandr Lukashenko’s personal pilot. This is Vadzim Melnik, who headed flights at the company in 2021–2022. Earlier, in 2001, he was deputy chairman of Belarus’ State Aviation Committee, and in 2005 he became its head.

The biography of Alfa Aryjon founder Vadzim Chareuka contains facts that may seem incompatible with one another. In Russia, he owns 49% of OOO TK AS (limited liability company under Russian law), a company linked to the Kalashnikov Concern (in a comment to BIC, Chareuka called it a shell), while also being wanted by the authorities. [*] [*] [*] In the EU, he owns 90% of the Polish firms Aorion sp. z o.o. and Aorion EU sp. z o.o (limited liability companies under Polish law). A representative of Alfa Aryjon told BIC that Chareuka had tried to find investment to develop the business in Europe “together with certain partners,” but the money could not be raised.

In Belarus, where Chareuka owns a quarter of TAA UVR (limited liability company under Belarusian law), [*] [*] which also works with drones, he was placed on the extremist list for taking part in the 2020 protests. The businessman said so himself — in a detention video released at the end of 2023 by the pro-government Belarusian Telegram channel Kniha HU “BAZA”.

”At the time of publication, the businessman was in Europe — he confirmed this in a conversation with us. He also added that the contracts for drone deliveries include a ban on military use. He likewise denied transferring any rights to use the technology: “We are aware of cases where buyers or distributors presented civilian platforms in public materials as ‘their own solutions’ or under other brands. These actions were not agreed with us; we have not transferred any rights for rebranding, use of our trademarks, software or technical documentation.” According to him, the company produces only civilian drones for industrial use. The geozone in which a buyer can use the equipment is also restricted. Drones sold to Russia may be used only within its internationally recognized 1991 borders, Chareuka said.

We were unable to obtain comment from Alfa Aryjon’s Russian partners — NPP Radar MMS and Tikhiye Krylya — as they did not respond to official requests.

Sanctions and European companies

We also received no response from KBBV — the contact numbers went unanswered, and there was no reply to our written request at the time of publication.

The company, along with its founder Vladimir Chudakov, [*] [*] is under U.S. and Canadian sanctions. The United Kingdom imposed restrictions only on the company. According to Cyber Partisans, in 2023–2024 Vladimir Yaprintsev — a former business partner of Yury Chyzh, long considered Aleksandr Lukashenko’s chief “wallet” — worked there. Yaprintsev was also a co-owner of KBBV’s Russian subsidiary, OOO Bars (limited liability company under Russian law). The company’s listed activities include the production of aircraft, intercontinental ballistic missiles, military combat vehicles and jet engines.

Chudakov founded companies not only in Russia and Belarus. Although KBBV has been under EU sanctions since July 2025, at the time of publication Chudakov remained a co-owner of the Latvian firm UAV Helicopters SIA. His partner and fellow co-owner Oleg Chazov (Oļegs Čazovs) served in Soviet intelligence, according to Latvian media. He sits on the board of directors of another Latvian company, InDrones SIA, which produces drones under the Skytiller brand. [*] [*]

The drone national project

According to Vladimir Putin, in 2024 alone the Russian military received more than 1.5 million drones of various types, with about 4,000 FPV drones sent to the front every day. Against this backdrop, Belarus’ supplies — about 21,000 drones since the start of the full-scale invasion — may seem insignificant. But the key point is that Belarusian companies supplied drones when Russia was most desperate for them. In June 2022, media reported a shortage of drones, linked to DJI halting sales and a surge in private purchases. Later, on January 1, 2024, Russia launched the national project “Unmanned Aerial Systems.” The government allocated 250 billion rubles (nearly $3 billion) to it for the next six years. The plan is to build a system for designing, testing and producing drones, support the industry with subsidies and tax breaks for manufacturers, and train drone specialists starting in schools.