For Russia, teleworking has become a national security problem. So much so that he considers banning it

The consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are numerous. International trade has been affected, the global food and energy crises have worsened, and sports and cultural organizations have dispensed with Russian participants.

In the technological field, Russia is having difficulties due to the sanctions imposed by the West, which caused a brain drain that the Kremlin is now willing to reverse by banning teleworking abroad, as reported by Reuters this week.

Concern about the brain drain. On March 22, 2022, Sergei Plugotarenko, head of the Russian Association for Electronic Communication, reported in the Russian parliament that since the end of February, when Russia invaded Ukraine, between 50,000 and 70,000 tech workers had left the country. In addition, the Kremlin estimates that currently 100,000 Information Technology professionals work abroad, according to Reuterswhich generates great concern in Moscow due to the consequences that this may have in terms of cybersecurity.

Fear of strengthening the Atlantic Alliance. The fear among hardline Russian lawmakers is that more ICT workers will move to NATO member countries and inadvertently share sensitive information that puts the country’s security at risk.

Solution: eliminate teleworking. In response, these legislators have proposed a ban on certain Information Technology professionals from leaving the country, and among the suggestions resulting from the debate is the impediment of working remotely from anywhere in the world, an option that many of these workers currently own.

Threat to the security of the Kremlin. The truth is that the flight of ICT workers is a serious problem for Russian cybersecurity and the Russian economy. This was stated by James Lewis, a member of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, in statements to Radio Free Europe, who considered this brain drain a “disaster” for Russian interests. He further added that the lack of personnel in national cyber defense is a problem for any country.

Problem for the Russian economy. In parallel, this flight of ICT workers will have long-term effects on the Russian economy. This was stated by Elina Ribakova, chief economist at the International Institute of Finance in Washington, at a conference held at the beginning of March last year, in which he added that the massive outflow of Russian workers was one of the reasons why they believed that Russian productivity and growth would continue to decline.

Suggestion from the head of the mercenaries Wagner. On the other hand, the proposal to prohibit teleworking was madeLikewise, in March 2022 by Concord, a conglomerate owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin (a close associate of Putin and head of the Wagner Group, a private military company made up of mercenaries) with the aim of protecting, according to the firm, Russia’s strategic interests.

Workers under surveillance. The company’s approach was to inform the FSB, the Russian intelligence service, of the intentions of professionals in the technology sector to go to work in a “hostile state”, as reported by the Russian portal VC.

Other countries benefit. However, some of the main countries to which Russian ICT workers are fleeing are Armenia, Georgia, Turkey and Israel, as reported by Radio Free Europe in April 2022. The first two because of the language (many of the population of the Caucasus is Russian-speaking), the third because of the facilities it offers in terms of visas (despite being a member of NATO) and the last because of the lack of professionals in its technology sector itself, estimated at 15,000 workers according to the newspaper globes.

Discrepancies in Russia: banning teleworking can be worse. However, in Russia there are those who are aware that teleworking is a claim for the most talented workers. This is the case of Maksut Shadayev, Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Media of the Russian Federation, who stated last December that a restriction of these characteristics would undermine the competitiveness of Russian technology companies: “In the end, whoever can attracting the most talented staff, including foreigners, will win,” he added, according to Reuters.

In short, few things seem to escape the effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine: not even teleworking.

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