Юрий Яцына. Фото: mlyn.by
The director of Belarus’s Research and Production Centre (RPC) for Unmanned Systems, Yury Yatsyna, has been dismissed, Belsat reports, citing sources.
According to the sources, the dismissal was initiated by the chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences, Uladzimir Karanik, during Yatsyna’s report on the centre’s activities.
The interlocutors say that in his report the RPC head exaggerated the centre’s achievements and prospects for securing contracts, after which Karanik reportedly said: “Stop telling me this — we no longer need your services.” Yatsyna was, however, allowed to remain in his post until the end of February.
Belsat’s sources also claim that the RPC director had previously been criticised for fictitious reporting, document falsification, dismissing staff he considered undesirable, and treating the centre as his personal laboratory funded by the state budget. According to them, these practices led to serious financial problems at the enterprise.
The centre itself did not confirm the information about the dismissal. A Belsat correspondent, posing as the wife of an employee, attempted to make an appointment with the RPC director, but was unable to reach him via the phone number listed on the centre’s website — the calls did not go through.
“He is at the Presidium today. He is at the ministry today,” said the deputy director for research, Aliaksandr Shchauleu, whose phone was reachable.
When the correspondent tried to clarify when Yatsyna would return to his workplace in order to arrange a meeting for the following week, there was no response. Instead, Shchauleu suggested passing the information in person at a meeting and explained that it was impossible to contact the director because he had allegedly “removed you from friends” or “does not want to talk.”
The Research and Production Centre for Unmanned Systems was established in 2016 to develop and mass-produce drones and robotic systems. Its developments include small drones such as the Busel, medium-class systems like the Burevestnik, and others. The share of domestically produced components in its output fell from 74 percent in 2023 to 50 percent in 2025.