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Russia facing a massive brain drain



Hundreds of thousands of educated Russians are fleeing the country - IT workers, scientists, bankers and doctors.


A survey conducted in mid-March by OK Russians, a non-profit organization that helps people leave the country, estimated that about 300,000 people have left Russia since the war broke out in late February. Unfortunately, these are only estimates. The exact scale of the outflow of young and educated workers is unknown. For comparison, according to the Russian statistics agency Rosstat, about 500,000 people left Russia in the entire year 2020.


Mostly technology workers, scientists, bankers and doctors. They are going to Georgia, Armenia and Turkey, among others. The economists stress that they are the most productive and valuable part of society for the economy.


"The initial exodus of people took place in just a few weeks. In such a short period, such a large wave of emigration from Russia has not been seen for more than 100 years," said Konstantin Sonin, a professor at the University of Chicago.


In the first wave, 70,000 people left, mostly for Georgia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, or countries delaying sanctions. Sooner or later, many of them will end up in the EU or the US. The Interfax agency predicts that another 70-100 thousand people will leave the country in the next April wave. Only the most determined will succeed. The sanctions imposed on Russia do not facilitate travel, and the Russian passport in the world today is more of a hindrance than a help.


Moreover, "Mother Russia" does not let her children go so easily. There are instances of people on Twitter who claim they have to lie that they are not involved in IT because people with technical education are not let out of Russia.


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