About 100,000 IT specialists left Russia in 2022 - digital development minister

MOSCOW. Dec 20 (Interfax) - About 100,000 IT specialists left Russia this year, which is about 10% of the total staff, Russian Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Maksut Shadayev said.

"Indeed, if we take a look at two waves of departures of IT specialists, up to 10% of IT company employees left the country and never came back. In total, about 100,000 IT specialists are staying abroad," Shadayev said at Government Hour in the State Duma on Tuesday.

According to him, 80% of those who left are still working for Russian companies.

The ministry stands against strict restrictions on remote work of such specialists, and believes "it is premature" to discuss this measure, Shadayev said.

"A key measure we propose discussing now is how to avoid strict restrictions on remote work of such employees, because that would definitely encourage them to find a job with foreign companies," Shadayev said, adding that such work format was unacceptable for developers of state information systems.