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Russia’s IT sector is grappling with a systemic crisis amid sanctioned isolation and severed access to Western technologies.
Key points:
- Over 20,000 IT professionals have departed Russia in the past three years, with annual returns averaging merely 300 specialists.
- The talent exodus is triggering industry decline, as firms resort to filling expert roles with underqualified internal staff.
- Sanction-driven isolation and severed tech imports have plunged Russia’s IT sector into structural deterioration.
Russia’s IT Sector Teeters on the Verge of Collapse
In the last three years, more than 20,000 IT specialists have exited the country, while repatriation remains negligible—only approximately 300 professionals return yearly.
Previously, foreign IT talent contributed up to 20% of workforce growth in Russian companies. By 2024, this figure has plummeted to a critical 0.4%.
The drain of skilled workers is accelerating sectoral degradation, with businesses forced to replace experts using internal reserves that frequently fall short of professional benchmarks.
Simultaneously, repressive measures are intensifying. Moscow City Court convicted former Yandex programmer Sergei Irin to 15 years imprisonment for transferring $500 to Ukraine’s “Come Back Alive” fund, accusing him of state treason. Such cases foster an atmosphere of fear within the IT community.
Intelligence data indicates that sanctioned isolation, lost access to Western technologies, and escalating cyberthreats have driven Russia’s IT industry into a structural downturn.
