Hundreds of thousands left Russia after the invasion of Ukraine began, including many IT professionals. Many people are now back – and settling into their old lives.
A large Russian bank has its headquarters in a modern office building in the south of Moscow directly on the banks of the Moskva – with an attached café on the ground floor. Alexej comes in, his name is different in real life. He is a well-paid IT specialist, 30 years old and a declared opponent of the war against Ukraine – which is why he thought about leaving Russia early on:
“On the day the war started, on February 24, 2022, I went out to a protest in the evening – but there were only half as many people there as police officers,” he remembers. “Then it became clear to me: there was no point in rallies anymore. And I thought about leaving the country. But I had just fulfilled a dream and bought an apartment on credit, in which I had only lived for three months.”
Alexei stayed – at first. But then the draft wave came last September. “It was obvious that the quick war would not work, it would take a long time and most likely a lot of people would be needed,” he said. “I was outraged that the state thought it could tell me: ‘We’re sending you to war’ – and I can’t refuse that. I thought, well, it’s time to go.”
The first month passed like a vacation
So Alexei decided to leave the country together with a colleague last September. Go to your employer at nine in the morning, write your resignation, hand in your laptop and drive towards Georgia. He shows cell phone photos of the chaos they experienced at the border – a mega traffic jam of people wanting to leave the country in which they were stuck for five days. Water and food quickly sold out.
Alexei came to Batumi, found an apartment with his friend and a home office job for a Russian company – the first month passed like a vacation, he still raves today. But then came the first difficulties and the slightest doubts. Practical problems because Georgia joined Western sanctions and the transfer of money from the employer in Russia became more complicated and expensive, the language barrier, the feeling that even the greatest hospitality is finite.
Finally, the idea of moving to a metropolis in Western Europe: “It turns out that the Ukrainians go there because they are really in danger – which is why everyone is happy about them,” says Alexei. “But the Russians have a different attitude. And I realized: Nobody is waiting for you there.”
So far, leaving the country has had no consequences
He had the feeling that the pause button had been pressed in his life, while friends, acquaintances and family continued to live at home – and he left alone, without a girlfriend. And so Alexei returned at the end of February after six months. He immediately found well-paid work as an IT specialist.
He doesn’t regret leaving Russia in the meantime: “I haven’t liked Putin my whole life. I still don’t like him, I never voted for him and I won’t do that. Of course I don’t accept what happened. I was against the mobilization, and therefore left.”
He doesn’t have to fear mobilization, even though he’s 30 years old and a reservist – because, says Alexei, he got a written exemption from his bank: he’s too important in his job. So far there have been no consequences for him turning his back on his country because of the war.
But of course he also heard from the head of the Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, who would prefer to send returnees who are not fully supportive of the Russian army to Magadan – that is, to where there were penal camps under Stalin in which over a million people died.
So: When would Alexei actually pack his bags again? “If forced labor, with Magadan, really happens, then I’ll be gone. I won’t build any railway lines,” he says – and laughs.