Russia Sees Tech Brain Drain, Other Nations Are Hoping To Benefit
Anastasia is a freelance computer systems analyst aged 24 from Novosibirsk in Siberia. She chose Kyrgyzstan because her husband lives there.
“When we first heard about the war (Feb. 24,) we believed it was time to leave. But, we decided that we would wait and see. Anastasia stated that they bought their tickets on February 25 and then left. “There was not much to think about.”
Anastasia, like all other Russian workers interviewed for this story, asked to remain anonymous. Even before Ukraine’s invasion, Moscow was cracking down on dissent. People living in Russia are still afraid of reprisals.
Anastasia stated that “for as long as I can recall, there was always fear about expressing oneself in Russia.” She added that the war and the “background noise of patriotism,” made the environment more difficult. “They began interrogating and searching people at the border one day after I left.”
Sergei Plugotarenko (head of the Russian Association for Electronic Communications), a lobbying group representing the industry, exposed the extent of the apparent brain drain.
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