High flight: how the ambitious TulaDron project became the focus of a scandal

Lawyers interviewed by Izvestia are confident that new defendants may appear in the case of Evgeny Grigoriev, the head of the TulaDron unmanned aircraft system manufacturer, who was detained and sent to a pre-trial detention center. The general director of the scientific and production center for unmanned aircraft systems was arrested on suspicion of especially large-scale fraud. According to experts, Grigoriev may be charged with other crimes, but now he faces up to ten years in prison. Such investigations most often involve overstating the cost of work or supplies, fictitious performance of work, or the supply of counterfeit or non-certified components under the guise of original ones.

What was Grigoriev detained for?

Evgeny Grigoriev, who heads the TulaDron Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Scientific and Production Center, has stopped appearing at his workplace since August 14, company employees told Izvestia. They did not know the exact reason for his absence, but assumed that it could be related to his detention. According to the Tula media, the head of the center is charged with particularly large-scale fraud.

Evgeny Grigoriev is currently in jail, he was arrested for two months.

Izvestia sent a request to TulaDron with a request to comment on the detention of their leader. No response had been received at the time of publication.

According to the editorial board, Evgeny Grigoriev was born in Izhevsk and graduated from the RANEPA Faculty of Information Management. His career continued in the Tula region: he held the position of deputy director for B2B and partnerships in the regional branch of Rostelecom, and was also Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the region.

In 2023, Grigoriev began working at the Tulatech World-class Scientific and Educational Center and the Management Company of the Composite Valley Innovative Scientific and Technological Center. At the same time, he became the head of TulaDron. By the end of the year, his income amounted to about 3.5 million rubles, which is the highest figure among the available data. There is no information about earnings for subsequent years.

The person involved is officially registered in Tula. However, as Izvestia found out, he permanently resides in Odintsovo, near Moscow. In addition to two apartments, Evgeny Grigoriev has three cars — Kia Sorento, Kia Picanto and Hyundai Creta.

Despite his high position, he has no significant assets. He also has no debts.

What does TulaDron do?

The Tula region has been producing UAVs for several years. In 2025, the region received funding under the national project "Unmanned Aircraft Systems", including for the creation of the TulaDron center. 1 billion rubles have been allocated for its development, 700 million of which are federal funds.

"In January 2025, TulaDron NPC BAS received the status of a scientific and production center for testing and competence in the field of UAS technology development from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia. Based on the results of the federal selection, a targeted subsidy has been allocated for the purchase of equipment for the center," Dmitry Milyaev, Governor of the Tula Region, wrote on social media in July 2025.

According to his forecasts, TulaDron was to become "one of the ten largest in the country and ensure the development and production of various UAVs."

At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade granted the enterprise the federal status of a scientific and production center for testing and competence in the field of UAS technology development. It was assumed that the non-profit organization would be engaged in the development, production, testing and certification of unmanned technologies. In addition, residents will be able to develop and produce UAV parts and components on its basis.

Production, laboratory and testing equipment were purchased, and the center was opened towards the end of the year. For almost nine months of operation, according to the company's open data, the center has gained 40 residents, among whom are "leading enterprises of the military—industrial complex."

In April 2026, the organization received the status of the Interregional Training Center of the University 2035 (training specialists in the field of ALS).

"The key demand of the industry is for specialists who are ready to quickly engage in work at the intersection of technology and applied tasks. Therefore, we will focus on practice-oriented training in all areas: the development, production and operation of UAS," Evgeny Grigoriev said at the time.

What threatens the person involved

Now Evgeny Grigoriev is accused of fraud on a particularly large scale. The maximum prescribed punishment under this article is ten years in prison.

However, based on judicial practice, usually in such cases they are sentenced from three to nine years in prison, depending on the scale of the damage, the role of the person involved and the presence of mitigating or aggravating circumstances, lawyer Mikhail Sazanov, a former employee of the central office of the FSB of Russia, told Izvestia. The case may also be reclassified or other crimes may be added, including embezzlement or money laundering, the lawyer said.

According to Dmitry Yemelyanov, a lawyer at the Moscow Bar Association, the appearance of other defendants is possible.

"The investigation will check everyone who signed documents, coordinated payments, accepted products and managed money," he said.

Mikhail Sazanov agrees with this.

— Practice shows that such crimes are rarely committed alone. Especially large—scale embezzlement of budget funds allocated for defense orders, as a rule, requires the participation of several persons — from accountants and financial directors to representatives of the customer who signed acts of completed works," he stressed.

The details of the criminal case have not yet been disclosed. According to Mikhail Sazanov, overestimation of the cost of work or supplies, fictitious fulfillment of obligations, as well as the supply of counterfeit or non-certified components under the guise of original ones are common in the field of government orders.

"Considering that we are talking about the amount of about 700 million rubles from the federal budget, the most likely scheme is the misuse of funds or fictitious fulfillment of contractual obligations," the lawyer said.

Despite strict control over government orders in Russia, any system has vulnerabilities, he noted.

— Loopholes are usually found at the stage of contract execution and acceptance of work. The most difficult part is monitoring exactly how the funds are spent after they are transferred to the contractor," the lawyer emphasized. — At the stage of concluding a contract and bidding, fraud is easier to detect, but when it comes to complex technological developments, it is difficult for the customer to verify whether the work performed really corresponds to the declared volume and quality.

Dmitry Yemelyanov also told Izvestia about this. According to him, violations are most often detected already during the execution of the contract.

Currently, defense industry enterprises in Russia are controlled by the prosecutor's office for supervision of the enforcement of laws at high-security facilities. It is this agency that identifies violations and initiates bringing the perpetrators to justice, Mikhail Sazanov noted.

Earlier, Izvestia reported on the July 29 detention of Alla Polovchenya, deputy head of the Department of Unmanned Systems and Robotics at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, on suspicion of embezzlement of budget funds, as well as two top managers of the Efko group of companies - Ekaterina Kustova, Deputy Director for Development, and Vladislav Romantsev, Director for strategic Development, in a particularly large—scale fraud case. Efko founder Valery Kustov and the company's CEO Yevgeny Lyashenko were detained in the same case.

Efko specializes in food production, but since 2021 it has also been developing unmanned technologies for agriculture, logistics and monitoring. According to investigators, the budget funds allocated for the creation of domestic UAVs could be used with violations: Chinese drones, after minor changes, were passed off as Russian.

According to Mikhail Sazonov, the state consistently demonstrates that budget funds allocated for defense and the development of high technologies are under close control. And the punishments for such crimes will not just be harsh, but revealing.