In Tula, a hitman lay in wait in the entrance hall of a block of flats and fired three shots at Andrei Cherezov — the head of the company «Russian Air Transport Laboratory», which develops and supplies unmanned aerial systems. According to Russian media reports, the injured man has been hospitalised. The attacker is being sought.
Briefly about the main points
- The hitman fired three shots at Andriy Cherezov in the entrance hall of the block of flats.
- Cherezov heads the «Russian Air Transport Laboratory».
- The injured manager was taken to hospital following the attack.
- RLVT develops and supplies unmanned systems.
- The EU imposed sanctions on the company on 23 July 2026.
The attack took place in the entrance hall of the building
The marksman was lying in wait for Cherezova in the building’s entrance hall and fired three shots. Russian media are describing the attacker as a hitman. Following the shooting, the head of the RLVT was taken to hospital.
The circumstances of the attack and the shooter’s motives have not yet been established. The timing of the incident, coinciding with recent EU sanctions against the RLVT, does not in itself confirm a link between these events.
The company has contracts for drone kits and is subject to EU sanctions
«The »Russian Air Transport Laboratory’ is involved in the development and supply of unmanned systems. In autumn 2024, it was awarded two contracts by Voronezh State Technical University worth 29.77 million roubles: to supply 337 multicopter UAV kits and 17 control units.
On 23 July 2026, the European Union included the RLVT in sanctions list. In the EU Council’s decision, the company is classified as part of the Russian military-industrial complex; the decision states that it designs and manufactures, amongst other things, FPV drones and the «Ovod». The EU also noted that these drones have been documented in Russia’s combat operations against Ukrainian positions.
A research centre formerly affiliated with Tula State University reported that the «Ovod», developed by former members of the university, is capable of strike operations and can automatically lock onto and guide itself towards a target in the event of a loss of control link. Taken together, the contracts and the sanctions decision indicate that RLVT is a significant component of the Russian unmanned systems ecosystem linked to the war against Ukraine.
Announced mass production of the «Ovod»
In March, the governor of the Ryazan Region Pavlo Malkov stated that the «Ovod» is being mass-produced at a rate of 20,000 units per month. This claim by the regional manager was not backed up by independently verified production statistics.
RLVT was listed among the residents of the «Aerospace Innovation Valley» and the associated «Protos» research and production centre for unmanned systems in the Ryazan Region.
