Head of Key Company for Production of Shaheds Shoots Himself in Russia

The CEO of Umatex Group, Russia’s only carbon fiber manufacturer and a key supplier of raw materials for the production of Shahed/Geran drones, was found shot dead in the Moscow region.

The death of the Russian top manager was reported by the Russian channel Astra.

The body of the Russian company’s CEO, Alexandr Tyunin, was found on the roadside near a village near Moscow, along with a gun and a suicide note.

“I did it myself, I’m tired of fighting depression for 5 years, it’s getting worse, I have no strength,” Tyunin’s note reads.

The project ‘To Be or Not to Be’ notes that this is the 35th mysterious death of Russian top officials and company executives since 2022. In this list, unexpected suicide is one of the most common causes of death.

Similarly, in July, the former governor of the Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, shot himself in his car, blamed for the failure of defense during the Ukrainian offensive.

Umatex and the production of Shaheds

JSC Khimprom Engineering, better known as Umatex Group, is the only carbon fiber producer in Russia. It is its Alabuga-Fibre division in the economic zone of the same name that supplies materials for the production of drones.

Carbon fiber is a key element in the production of fuselages for long-range drones, providing high strength at extremely low weight.

In an exclusive study of Russian documentation, Militarnyi found and described in detail the technological process of manufacturing the bodies of Russian copies of the Shahed-136, where RC200 carbon fiber is a key component.

The Alabuga-Fiber plant, which is subordinated to Umatex, is located opposite the main production site, where fuselages are glued and finished drones are assembled.

Another key plant, Tatneft Alabuga fiberglass, is also located near the facility (here), producing fiberglass fabrics that are also used in the composite fuselages of the Shahed.

According to publicly available data, Umatex’s facilities produce about 95% of Russia’s carbon fiber output, producing 1400-2000 tons of fiber annually. However, with the scaling up of the production of attack drones, this figure could have increased significantly in recent years.