According to official statistics, nearly four million Russians left the country in the first three months of 2022.
“We were very afraid of being questioned at the Russian border as we heard they didn’t want to let IT specialists leave the country, so we erased the messengers on our phones”, Marina, a 25-year-old IT professional from Moscow, who recently left for Cyprus with her boyfriend, told Al Jazeera.
“But at Vnukovo airport, they didn’t ask us anything, except for the amount of cash we were carrying”, she added.
Although some had been planning to travel for work or personal reasons after COVID restrictions were relaxed, a substantial number appears to be connected with the invasion of Ukraine, sanctions or fears of conscription and martial law.
Among them are some of Russia’s best and brightest.
“In my opinion, this is a criminal adventure that occurred because in this country, all the most important decisions are made by one person completely out of touch with reality”, said 32-year-old Artur from St Petersburg, a software developer and online instructor who is now in Germany, referring to President Vladimir Putin.
In March, Sergei Plugotarenko, head of the Russian Association for Electronic Communications, a non-profit group, told a parliamentary committee that as...
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