The brain-drain from Russia to "the West" is getting serious.
Russia is unwittingly exporting entrepreneurs, thinkers, scientists, writers...
http://www.rferl.org/content/the-daily-vertical-russia-embarrassing-exports/26969586.html
The video speaks of "a million" Russians, but I guess that is meant figuratively.
http://www.worldpolicy.org/journal/spring2013/russians-go-west
Tens of thousands are leaving each year. But it's not the number that's the problem: It's the profile. The typical russian emigrant these days is well-educated and affluent.
"Even more striking is the number of those who say they would leave if they could. One out of every five Russians wants to leave their country, according to a June 2012 survey by the Levada Center, an independent pollster. Almost a third of Russian urbanites want to emigrate, according to a survey by Romir, another independent pollster."
"“Conversations these days start and end with the topic of emigration,” says Masha Gessen, a journalist and author of the Putin biography The Man Without a Face. “Where are you going? Should we all go together? Israel, Australia, America, Britain, Western Europe ... What is the first step? What, you have not made plans yet? Do you at least have a valid visa? This is the banter with which people sit down for supper,” she says."
"Talented young people are faced with two options—emigrate or fight the system, Oreshkin says. The ambitious, who want to realize their professional goals, leave. Those who don’t, fight. But fighting the system is keeping a generation of professionals from career development. Scientists, who should be performing valuable research, instead take to the streets in protest alongside artists who should be painting, sculpting, or writing. But there is no other way. The brightest young people devote their energies and talents to battling election fraud, attending sit-ins and protests, not tending to business. “It’s a citizen’s obligation. You write texts, declarations,” Oreshkin says."
"It’s easy to advance and earn a high salary in Russia for those motivated enough, but professionalism is hard to find, Ryvkin says. Top journalists have restrictions on what they can say, and businessmen have to hire security to protect their wealth."
"A reform law passed with the support of the ruling United Russia party provides, without fees, two hours per week apiece of Russian, English, mathematics, and physical education as well as an hour of history. Fees must be paid for all additional subjects, costing families an average of about $200 per month. The law has sparked public outrage since the average income outside Moscow is $300 to $500 per month, putting all but a skeleton of an education system out of reach for most Russians."
"The average monthly salary for scientists is about 20,000 rubles ($634) per month."
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/07/24/under-putin-russia-seeing-an-exodus-of-the-most-educated-most-active-most-entrepreneurial-people/
"The number of Russians emigrating in the last two years was some five times higher than in the two before Putin began a new six-year term in May 2012, official figures show. Russia’s statistics service Rosstat data shows 186,382 moved abroad in 2013 and 122,751 in 2012, compared to 36,774 in 2011 and 33,578 in 2010."
"Echoing the post-Soviet brain drain, sociologists say Russia is bleeding exactly the kind of people it needs to plug a skilled labor shortage and diversify the economy away from reliance on energy exports. “We are losing the most educated, most active, most entrepreneurial people,” Lev Gudkov, director of the independent Moscow-based Levada Centre pollster. “The Kremlin sees this in a cynical way – as a way to let off steam.”"
"Reasons for leaving vary. Corruption, red tape and allegedly crooked courts are driving the exodus among entrepreneurs. Young people seek higher education and job opportunities. Families want better health care and schools. Some hanker after greater freedoms."
"As some of Russia’s self-starters flee, sociologists say the country’s middle class is no longer growing but changing in a way that differs radically from the West, by increasingly becoming dominated by bureaucrats."
"A Levada survey last month showed 83% of Russians approve of Putin’s management, and that has made his critics feel more isolated than ever in their home country."
http://www.financialexpress.com/article/companies/russian-capital-flight-becoming-an-entrepreneur-brain-drain/42091/
"Publicly available data shows the haemorrhage of money and people. Consultancy CrossBorder Capital, which tracks financial flows, calculates that $123.8 billion left Russia in 2014. According to Russia’s statistics office, more than 203,000 people left the country in the first 9 months of 2014, compared with 186,382 in the whole of 2013 and just 33,578 in 2010."
"“We would have loved to have stayed in Russia but there’s a very deep crisis. We looked at different options but an English education is the best,” said one Russian, declining to be identified for fear of damaging the business interests of her husband who flies back and forth but plans to settle in Britain soon. One established Russian entrepreneur in London, Igor Sagiryan, a former investment banker who founded restaurant chain Ping Pong, says the exodus is “extremely bad for Russia”. A recent foray back into Russia with a real estate venture lost him money as the rouble collapsed. “Business is a mess in Russia, businessmen are losing money and as a result lots of people are trying to get their money out and start somewhere else,” he says."
= new reply since forum marked as read
for the USA which will spy on them and see their thoughts as they type. 