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Russia Facing Biggest Brain Drain in Two Decades

Andrei Gordeyev / Vedomosti

Russia is facing its biggest brain drain in the last 20 years, British newspaper The Times reported Friday.

Some 350,000 people left Russia in 2015, ten times more than five years ago. Many are highly trained and looking for better business opportunities abroad, the newspaper said.

Forty-two percent of senior managers want to emigrate from Russia, a poll by headhunting company Agentstvo Kontakt revealed Tuesday.

Those wishing to move said that they were motivated by more favorable conditions for developing private businesses, better prospects of finding investors, and a higher quality of life.

The poll was conducted in May among 467 Russian high-level managers working in local or international companies.

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