By Andrew Osborn and Alexander Marrow
LONDON (Portal) – One of Russia’s wealthiest tycoons on Monday urged authorities to tolerate rather than punish hundreds of thousands of workers who have fled abroad over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, arguing that the country needs their intelligence.
“People who work for our economy from abroad – remotely or otherwise – should not be punished,” billionaire metal executive Vladimir Potanin told online news portal RBC, calling for an end to talks about punitive measures against them, something he called “demagogy”. .
He said Moscow must be tolerant even when long-distance workers held views that Russian patriots didn’t like, a reference to the fact that many of those who left – including IT specialists – did so to avoid being drafted into the army or because they disagreed with Moscow naming its “military special operation” in Ukraine, which was launched on February 24 last year.
Potanin is considered Russia’s richest or second richest person thanks to his stake in metals giant Nornickel.
The scale of the exodus — put by some Russian media at up to 700,000 people, a number the Kremlin has called an exaggeration — has fueled fears of a brain drain at a time when Russia is under harsh economic sanctions from the West.
Maksut Shadaev, the head of Russia’s digital affairs ministry, told parliament in December that around 100,000 IT specialists left Russia in 2022.
‘TRAITOR’
A sometimes heated debate about how to deal with such people has occupied Russia’s political and business elite for weeks.
Hardliners like former President Dmitry Medvedev have called some of the refugees “traitors” who should never be allowed back home.
Other hawkish politicians have advocated hitting long-distance workers and émigrés with higher taxes and stripping them of their passports and Russian assets. They are considering legislation that would ban remote work altogether in some sectors.
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Conversely, reports by Russia’s business daily Kommersant of plans being examined by the Digital Affairs Ministry suggest it may want to lure specialists back with relocation packages and exemptions from army conscription.
The ministry did not respond to a Portal request for comment, but made clear that it opposes proposals to ban IT workers from leaving the country or levy higher taxes on those who do.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Life online news outlet last week that while the state must fight its “enemies,” it must also ensure that Russians who have not taken a hostile attitude towards their country and its policies should be able to return Hometown.
Potanin said Moscow desperately needs remote workers, including computer programmers, to help the struggling economy recover.
“Most of them continue to work for our country, our economy, our companies. Some of them will come back, some won’t. So why oust them and persecute them?” Potanin told RBC.
Programmers working remotely are “our strength, not our weakness, their brains, their ability to produce a product which, by the way, we’re sorely lacking,” he said, estimating that Russia only makes 20% of its own software could supply needs.
Suggestions that they should have their homes or other assets confiscated are tantamount to theft and would weaken Russia’s investment potential, Potanin added.
A doctor who fled Russia for a European Union country last February said he was skeptical of any sweeteners authorities might offer to lure people back.
“Nobody is convinced that these measures will work,” said the doctor, who declined to be named for fear of reprisals.
“First end the war, and then make people feel like masters of their own destiny.”
(Reporting by Andrew Osborn and Alexander Marrow; Editing by Gareth Jones)