A million Russians would have already left their homeland, says a woman

When Vladimir Putin announced a “partial mobilization” last fall, it sparked a veritable exodus. Men who were conscripted in particular left Russia in a hurry – the images of kilometers of traffic jams on the border with neighboring countries such as Finland or Georgia made headlines worldwide.

The congestion has since eased. Not least because countries like Finland have made it almost impossible for Russians to enter the country. But the exodus continues, reports Anna. Anna’s real name is different, but she only wants to be called under a pseudonym for fear of reprisals.

The young Russian completed her bachelor’s degree in political science in St. Petersburg last summer and says: “Most of my friends have already left Russia or are in the process of doing so.” Anna herself also tries to leave Russia for Western Europe and start a new life there.

The consequences of the war slowed down migration, but did not prevent it

The mood in Russia is very gloomy, Anna reports. It’s almost like at the height of the pandemic, with empty streets and empty shops. And yet there are differences: “There are hardly any international shops here, and there are many more women on the streets because the men are afraid of arbitrary conscription.”

According to various estimates, up to a million Russians have left their homeland since the start of the war, or just under one percent of the population. In comparison, about eight million people left Ukraine in the same period, which is one fifth of the population.

Most people who want to leave the country are young and highly educated. Almost only the elderly are in favor of the war, says Anna: “The rest remain silent out of fear or are simply too busy with economic survival to care about politics.”

Emigration figures are deceptive. Because: leaving the country has become much more difficult since the start of the war. Anna felt that too. For her travel documents, she had to overcome a downright bureaucratic hurdle at foreign embassies.

But that’s not the only problem. You can now travel from Russia to far fewer countries than before the war – with the same or even higher demand for the corresponding tickets. The result, according to Anna: “Prices have risen enormously. A lot of people just can’t afford it.” In addition, there is the difficulty of processing the payment technically, because the Russian banking system is hardly connected to the international one.

The shortage of computer scientists forced the government to take action

Thus, the number in Russia is both relative and absolute lower than in war-torn Ukraine. However, it is reasonable to assume that even more people would have left Russia had it not been so difficult to leave the country.

The Russian IT industry in particular has been hit hard by emigration. According to official statistics, more than 100,000 IT professionals left Russia last year. That’s about 10 percent of all IT professionals across Russia.

The ICT labor market has dried up to such an extent that the government felt compelled to take action in March. The requirements for obtaining a work and residence permit have been definitively reduced, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of the Interior explained in mid-March.

So while the job prospects for Anna, who has been working at an IT company since completing her bachelor’s degree in human resources, could hardly be better, she can’t imagine staying in Russia. She actually had no intention of leaving Russia permanently. In the long term, however, she wants to be professionally involved in politics, for example in a city council. “Under the current circumstances, this is unimaginable to me.”