Over the past several years, as the Kremlin’s domestic policies have become more repressive, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of Russians who have emigrated. These self-exiled Russians often represent the country’s best and brightest. Moving abroad, they believe they can better realize their potential in countries with a more transparent political system, better legal guarantees, and greater opportunities to exercise personal freedom. This “brain drain” has become an even more acute problem for the Kremlin since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to the opposition media source Meduza, nearly 150 thousand people have emigrated from Russia since 24 February.
Rather than examining the domestic reasons for leaving Russia, some pro-Kremlin media blame the U.S. for this exodus. Citing a recent Chinese article, the second excerpt from the semi-independent site Nezavisimaya Gazeta claims that the U.S. has “created a brain drain trend using it as a tool to weaken Russia.” According to the author, “Washington is trying to facilitate the transfer to the United States of the best Russian specialists with experience in semiconductors, space technology, cybersecurity, nuclear engineering, artificial intelligence, space technology and other specialized scientific fields.” Given this trend, the Kremlin may soon develop policies to restrict its most qualified citizens from leaving Russia.
Will the United States be able to weaken Russia by poaching its best specialists?
Source: Kristina Safonova, “Сколько людей уехало из России из-за войны? (How many people left Russia because of the war?),” Meduza (opposition news source), 7 May 2022. https://meduza.io/feature/2022/05/07/skolko-lyudey-uehalo-iz-rossii-iz-za-voyny-oni-uzhe-nikogda-ne-vernutsya-mozhno-li-eto-schitat-ocherednoyvolnoy-emigratsii
Is it possible to estimate how many people left Russia after February 24?
Julia Florinskaya: I don’t have any estimates – neither accurate nor inaccurate. It’s more of an order of
numbers. My order of numbers is about 150 thousand people.
Source: Tatyana Popova, “Организация «утечки мозгов» как новое глобальное оружие США (Organization of brain drain as a new global weapon of the United States),” Nezavisimaya Gazeta (semi-independent), 5 May 2022. https://www.ng.ru/world/2022-05-05/100_usa050522.html
Will the United States be able to weaken Russia by poaching its best specialists?
The United States of America intends to prevent the development of high technologies in Russia and in parallel to improve its economy, using special tactics, say the authors of the Chinese daily newspaper Global Times. …
Washington is trying to facilitate the transfer to the United States of the best Russian specialists with experience in semiconductors, space technology, cybersecurity, nuclear engineering, artificial intelligence, space technology and other specialized scientific fields….
…According to the newspaper, the statement that the United States “wants to see Russia weakened” reveals the true intentions of the United States…. The US creates a brain drain trend using it as a tool to weaken Russia.
The consequences of the mass exodus of specialists (scientists and engineers) from the country are obvious – this process undermines the foundation of national economic and military development. …
However, it is clear that the US is determined to weaken Russia.
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