Putin’s Ukraine War Is Hollowing Out Russia’s Tech Future
Thousands of IT professionals are fleeing the country, creating a brain drain that may never be reversed.
When Russia’s tech talent decides to walk.
Photographer: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFPRussia’s invasion of Ukraine has been met with crippling sanctions, brought an untold human and economic cost, and turned it into an international pariah. But one of the most damaging long-term consequences may be the resulting hollowing out of the nation’s vast pool of tech talent.
As many as 70,000 information technology workers have already fled the country and another 100,000 are expected to depart over the next month, the Russian Association for Electronic Communications told the nation’s Duma this month. That’s equivalent to around 13% of the sector’s workforce, one that makes an outsize contribution to the Russian economy.