Economists predict a massive loss of labor for the Russian economy, especially in the IT sector. The Kremlin denied that for a long time. Until now. Digital Minister Shadayev has now confirmed that 100,000 IT specialists have left the country. Allegedly, the majority continue to work for their employers.
According to the authorities, around 100,000 Russian IT specialists left their homeland after the start of Moscow’s war of aggression against Ukraine. “In fact, if we look at both waves of departures, up to ten percent of the employees of IT companies left the country and did not come back,” said Digitization Minister Maxut Schadajew in Moscow at a hearing in front of parliament. However, 80 percent of them are still employed by Russian companies. Shadayev therefore spoke out against banning these Russians from working from home.
Hundreds of thousands of Russians left the country after the war of aggression against Ukraine ordered by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin. The first wave came shortly after Putin’s declaration of war, the second after the president declared partial mobilization in Russia. Since the EU does not recognize these Russians as opponents of the war and has largely closed its borders, many have left for the neighboring ex-Soviet republics. In Russia, on the other hand, they are sometimes denounced as “traitors to the fatherland”.
The government and parliament, the Russian State Duma, are now discussing a law that would prohibit those who have left the country from continuing to work for Russian companies. In this way, Moscow wants to deprive possible conscientious objectors of the basis for their existence abroad. Currently, the discussion revolves around which sectors should be exempted from the ban.
Due to the lack of IT experts in Russia, they were recently officially exempted from military service. However, many Russians do not trust the Kremlin’s assurances and prefer to stay away from their homeland for fear of their lives.
