Minister: 10% of IT specialists left Russia after war broke out and never returned

Up to 10% of the Russian IT workforce have left the country after Moscow invaded Ukraine and did not return, Russian Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev told the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) during a government question session.

“If we look at the two waves of the IT specialist exodus, up to 10% left the country and never returned. Many did return, but if we look at numbers, they show that around 100,000 IT specialists are residing outside of the country. At the same time, 80% of them continue to work for Russian companies while in ‘friendly’ countries,” Shadayev said as quoted by RIA Novosti.

At the same time, the minister believes that Russia represents “one of the most favourable [countries] for IT businesses”.

Following the mobilisation announcement, the Russian Defence Ministry said that it would not draft men working in several specified industries. This list particularly included IT companies, “systemically important” network carriers, media, financial organisations, and banks.