Russian tech workers have been leaving their country in droves over the last month, coinciding with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Citing a report from BDNews24.com, back in late March, a Russian tech-industry trade group estimated between 50,000 and 70,000 tech workers had fled Russia; and that number could potentially repeat in April.
Such a move could be devastating for Russia on two fronts: A substantial decline in hiring, cultivating, and keeping highly proficient tech workers, and the ability to grow Russia's delicate economy for the long term.
"Most Russian tech workers are part of the global market. Either they work for global companies or they are tech entrepreneurs trying to build new companies for the global market," Konstantin Siniushin recently said through an interpreter from his office in Riga, according to reports. "So they are leaving the country."
Siniushin, a venture capitalist in Russia, recently filled two charter planes' worth of tech workers attempting to flee Russia.
According to BDNews24, the planes departed from Moscow, carrying tech workers from cities such as Perm, Ekaterinburg, and St. Petersburg.
All told, the planes transferred roughly 300 software developers, entrepreneurs, and other technology specialists out of the country, including 30 Russian workers from startups backed by Siniushin.
"The long-run impact may be more significant than the short-run impact,” said Russia business expert Barry Ickes, who's also the head of the economics department at Penn State University. "Eventually, Russia has to diversify its economy away from oil and gas, and it has to accelerate productivity growth. Tech was a natural way of doing that."
Hundreds of other planes have flown to Georgia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries which accept Russian citizens without visas.
In a recent interview, Vahan Kerobyan, Armenia's economic minister, said his country would welcome the large cluster of tech workers fleeing Russia.
"The Armenian tech community is providing support to their Russian friends, and the government is very much worried about giving Russian companies a nice place that is not too expensive where they can work," said Kerobyan.
Kerobyan estimated 43,000 people have left Russia for Armenia — with half holding Russian passports, and the other half carrying Armenian passports.
Also, according to Kerobyan, Miro, a U.S. software company, recently chartered flights to Yerevan for its Russian employees and then moved them into two hotels in the heart of the city.
Skilled Russian workers are apparently exiting Russia for two reasons: They no longer want to live under Vladimir Putin's regime, and they fear reprisal in speaking out against the government's war with Ukraine.
The logistical undertaking of the mass exodus may be tough to execute, though.
"We don’t have enough quality apartments for highly educated people with high salaries and high standards," said Aram Shahbandarian, a former Google employee based in Yerevan, who is reportedly helping many Russians move to the city. "Yerevan is cracking."
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