Russia's Arctic University deceives students into going to the front and produces drones for the military

The federal university in Arkhangelsk is closely involved in Russia's war efforts. Students regularly send humanitarian aid to Russian servicemen, military personnel come to the university to hold “patriotic” events, and the institution has even opened a museum dedicated to the war. In addition, the university systematically takes part in producing drones for the armed forces. Barents Observer explains how this happens.

The most important part is in the small print

At the beginning of July this year, announcements began appearing in Arkhangelsk city social media groups saying that a UAV operator training programme was starting at NArFU. Participants are offered a course lasting 18 academic hours, during which those interested can learn to operate drones. After completing the course, the authors of the announcement promise to issue a certificate that opens up “new career prospects”. It is emphasised in bold type that the training is free of charge and provided at no cost. However, this is a lie.

In small print at the bottom of the flyer it says: “training conditions: free of charge upon referral from the contract military service recruitment point”. To find out what exactly is meant by this wording, Barents Observer journalists called the number listed in the announcement.

At first, a university staff member hesitated and said: “I’ve run out of brochures, we held a meeting with students and they snapped them all up.” When asked whether it was necessary to sign a contract in order to take the course, the woman replied:

“Yes, they (the military enlistment office — editor’s note) offer a contract. It turns out they have a 3-month course and 9 months of service. It was promised that they would not be sent just anywhere.”

Of course, after signing a contract with the Ministry of Defence, it becomes open-ended, even if the contract states that its term is several months. There are no special contracts for service in “elite forces”. According to the BBC, at least three students recruited to serve as UAV operators have already been killed at the front: Vladislav Gorbunov, Valery Averin and Rakhim Abdullin.

Overall, this is not the first case in which a university has drawn students into signing a contract, but it is the first time this has been done by means of deception. Previously, NArFU took part in a nationwide campaign to recruit students, regularly posting advertisements for service in the “elite UAV forces”. The university continues to do so to this day. However, NArFU’s involvement in the war is not limited to recruiting students. The university also involves them in the development and assembly of drones for the Russian military.

“At the moment, these drones are operating on the front line and striking the enemy”

The first mention of assembling a quadcopter for military purposes appeared on NArFU’s website in December 2024. At that time, the university reported that students and staff at its Technopark had modified a standard drone in line with the wishes of the Russian military. The device, named “Hornet 1”, was handed over to a training centre for testing and subsequent dispatch to the war in Ukraine.

Later, in June 2025, students assembled and handed over ten FPV quadcopters to the same centre, from where they were to be sent on to the war.

“After the necessary flight tests, this equipment will be sent to the special military operation zone. It will serve two key purposes: 1. It will help train the lads before they are sent to the front line. 2. It will become the basis for the practical refinement and improvement of new models, which our students are working on right now,” the university’s Telegram channel said.

Just a month later, a video appeared on the university’s public page in which a man in military uniform, holding a rifle, says:

“We approached the lads from the ‘Our People’ training centre with a request to purchase FPV drones. The lads put us in touch with the engineers at the NArFU Technopark, and based on the technical specifications we needed, they assembled drones for us — very high-quality ones. At the moment, these drones are operating on the front line and striking the enemy. Thank you, Arkhangelsk! Your help matters to us, we value it. Victory will be ours!”

The technopark the serviceman mentions in the video was established at NArFU in 2018. It was initially presented as a space for education, scientific research and technological entrepreneurship. The centre was equipped with 3D printers and scanners, as well as design and engineering equipment. Students were taught to work with CAD software, additive technologies and drone modelling there. At the same time, the first “school of unmanned aerial vehicles” was held at the centre, although drones at that time were being developed for peaceful purposes.

Starting in 2022, the management began involving students in work on components for drones intended for war. A Barents Observer journalist managed to speak with one of the students at NArFU’s higher school of engineering.

According to him, several years ago the technopark and other university departments that had 3D printers received “a request from above” to print parts of an unknown purpose. Later, one of the engineers told the student that these were part of a mechanism for dropping ammunition from a drone. For taking part in the work, students were paid about 15,000 roubles on top of their stipend, and some of the printed components, the source claims, were sent to another region.

The student also said that the university later planned to open an FPV laboratory, and staff from other departments were involved in selecting equipment.

Indirect confirmation of the student's words could be found in NArFU publications devoted to UAVs. Under one of the posts with yet another report on the transfer of eight drones for military purposes and the needs of a special force (SOBR), a user with the nickname Andrei wrote:

"My nephew is studying to be an engineer at NArFU, and he says they had been soldering these drones there since November. They got the technical specification from the Rosgvardiya officers themselves, so it was no small matter. The Arkhangel SOBR guys are serious, and right now they simply can't do without such toys. It's good that the university is not standing aside but is genuinely helping."

One of the leading engineers at the NArFU Technopark is Artyom Lazarev. At the centre, he even founded a school for training UAV operators, which operated in 2024. Lazarev did not publicly speak about producing drones for the war, but during a livestream dedicated to the closing of one of the school's sessions, he said that some components "will be transferred for state needs".

His colleague and co-founder of the school, engineer Timofei Maslov, however, spoke openly about the Technopark helping the Russian military.

“The range (of developments - ed.) is broad — from individual clients who want to develop their project to helping our lads who are currently in the zone of the special military operation,” Maslov told the Region 29 portal.

Judging by the university’s own publications, NArFU has assembled at least two dozen drones for the military. How many there actually were is unknown: the university does not disclose the real scale of production.

Support for the front and persecution of dissenters

Since the beginning of 2022, the university has actively supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In the university buildings, exhibitions dedicated to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have appeared, featuring drone wreckage, fragments of weaponry, shell casings and items brought from occupied territories. Students are regularly invited to meetings with war participants, involved in collecting aid for the military and sent to visit such displays.

The university is also involved in the integration of servicemen returning from the war. NArFU has signed an agreement with the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation, an organisation created by Vladimir Putin, which helps war participants and members of their families enrol at the university. According to former rector Yelena Kudryashova, by the beginning of 2024 more than 50 servicemen and their relatives were already studying at the university.

At the same time, NArFU has repeatedly been accused of putting pressure on students and lecturers. Students who spoke out against the war or faced criminal prosecution were expelled from the university. Students spoke of conversations with FSB officers and refusals of academic leave and remote examination arrangements. In 2025 and 2026, the university dismissed historians Aleksei Feldt and Mikhail Suprun. After Feldt’s dismissal, students who publicly spoke out in his support reported threats from the administration, late-night phone calls and accusations of “extremism”.