Chilling photos show first ever look inside Putin’s secret ‘death’ factory

Vladimir Putin has shown off his terrifying factory of drones ahead of a joint naval drill with Iran.

Footage captured by the defence ministry’s TV channel Zvezda showed what the Russians had been building in their facility in Tatarstan.

The factory is said to be the world's biggest maker of strike drones, according to its director, as the documentary footage was broadcast on Sunday (20 June).

As shown in the clip, workers who looked to be as young as teenagers were building hundreds of large black Geran-2 suicide drones, their own version of Iranian-designed Shahed 136.

Ukraine insists that its enemy has used the drones to target their land and kill its innocent civilians, whereas Russia claims its drone strikes target only military or military-related areas.

Many teenage workers were in the factory (Zvezda)

Russia's Geran-2 drones have an exploding range of up to 1,200 miles and have been deployed across Ukraine.

"This is the largest such plant in the world and the most secret," Timur Shagivaliev, CEO of the Yelabuga Special Economic Zone, told Zvezda.

"At one time, the plan was to produce several thousand (Geran drones) – now we are producing nine times more than planned."

Putin's Russia are claiming to produce over 5,000 long-range drones each month to attack Ukraine after invading them on 24 February 2022.

Photos of Vladimir Putin's drone factory provide a chilling look into what weapons are being used in their war against Ukraine (Zvezda)

"Kurchatov, Korolyov and Stalin are living in your DNA," is what a sign posted above the factory read, with pictures of Joseph Stalin, physicist Igor Kurchatov and Sergei Korolev.

"There are young people, boys and girls, both working here and studying here in the college created by the same people who organised the production of Gerans," a voiceover throughout the film says.

"They invite schoolchildren here immediately after the ninth grade [aged 15 and 16], and after college they invite them to the plant.

"Vladimir Putin has noted the experience of Yelabuga and even called for its replication."

Both Iran and Russia have traded military technology amongst one another which was said to have helped their invasion of Ukraine.

And now, the pair have reportedly combined forces for a joint naval drill in the Caspian Sea.

The CASAREX 2025 is set to be held under the slogan 'Together for a Safe and Secure Caspian Sea,' and will be over three days long.

The main goal of the of this operation is to 'reinforce maritime safety and security while fostering greater cooperation among the naval forces of these countries,' according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).