Commander with the nickname «Yura Toilet». The Russian drone troops might be led by a former plumbing equipment trader.

Russian z-bloggers claim that businessman and volunteer from Elektrostal near Moscow, Yuri Vaganov, who has no military education, has become the commander of a new branch of the Russian army.

Russia has officially completed the formation of a new branch of the armed forces — the drone systems forces — but the name of their leader is still kept secret. Nevertheless, Russian bloggers and sources of the BBC Russian Service unanimously claim that Yuri Vaganov, a businessman from Elektrostal near Moscow, who had no connection to the army before the war, has been appointed as commander.

This appointment caused a real storm among supporters of the invasion.

Vaganov gained wide notoriety in narrow circles under the derogatory nickname «Yura the Toilet». As explained during his stream by z-blogger, Reserve Captain 3rd Rank Maxim Klimov, this name stuck to the businessman because, before the full-scale invasion, he traded plumbing fixtures and did not even have basic military education.

According to Klimov, after the start of the war, Vaganov «became a monopolist in the supply of FPV drones to Russian troops,» using administrative resources and connections in the Ministry of Defense.

BBC sources describe the logic of such a personnel decision through the prism of the commercial interests of the top leadership.

One of the publication's interlocutors compared Vaganov to a nimble figure serving a high-ranking boss, who «knows how to set a table and prepare a bathhouse,» and therefore «manages financial flows.»

The appointment of a non-military professional to a key position in modern warfare is perceived by many as a demonstrative disregard for combat needs for the sake of profit. Military instructor Sviatoslav Golikov sharply commented on this news, stating that Vaganov's connection with high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Defense is «purely about commerce,» not about developing technology or reducing losses at the front.

Before the war, Vaganov managed small firms trading building materials and breeding poultry. In 2022, he began actively transporting humanitarian aid to Donbas, where he gradually established the production of «Sudoplatov» drones.

Despite his lack of experience, his career developed rapidly: in October 2025, Patriarch Kirill awarded him an order, presenting him as a lieutenant colonel and advisor to the deputy minister of defense.

Within the Armed Forces of Ukraine, their drone systems forces were created by order of Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier than in Russia — back in February 2024. Their first commander was Robert Brovdi, a native of Zakarpattia Oblast, of Hungarian origin, known by the call sign «Madyar». In four years of war, Brovdi rose from commander of a small detachment to commander of a separate branch of the armed forces, receiving the title Hero of Ukraine and the rank of major.

If Vaganov's appointment is officially confirmed, he will have to receive general's shoulder straps.

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