In early October, a scandal erupted in Brazil after popular influencers Aila Loures, MC Thammy, and Catherine Bascoy publicly apologized to their followers for promoting the Alabuga Start internship program.
According to the Institute of Mass Information, they advertised it as a prestigious opportunity for young women aged 18–22 in the construction sector in Russia’s Tatarstan, offering housing, salaries up to $680, and language training.
It later emerged that the “internship” was actually a recruitment scheme for labor in the production of drones that Russia is using in its war against Ukraine.
The interns were taken to a restricted area where Shahed-136 kamikaze drones are manufactured. Working conditions were hazardous, labor rights were violated, and movement was tightly controlled.
According to Bloomberg, Alabuga Start is part of Russia’s “economic development zone” in Tatarstan. Formally, it is an educational program for young people from the Global South. In practice, it serves as a source of cheap labor for military enterprises.
Russian organizations created fake social media pages, recruited bloggers from Brazil, South Africa, and other BRICS countries, and distributed job advertisements in hotels and service centers.
Despite the revelations, Brazilian authorities did not initially respond to the human trafficking allegations. Only after public criticism did the influencers issue video apologies. MC Thammy said she had been misled and that the documents appeared legitimate, while the bloggers acknowledged they had not verified the source and had simply completed a paid assignment.
