Opinion: Russia’s best and brightest are fleeing Putin

Mark Galeotti - The Russians with the most talent, resources and skills are heading overseas while they still can, says Professor Mark Galeotti (UCL School of Slavonic & East European Studies). News that Putin's climate envoy Anatoly Chubais has quit his position and left the country is no great surprise and, to many Russians, not that great a loss. However his departure is still significant as it illustrates a growing haemorrhage of the talents in the wake of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Those Russians with the resources and, above all, skills to make it abroad are fleeing while they can. Chubais himself is still remembered by most Russians as one of the so-called 'boys in pink shorts' under former finance minister Yegor Gaidar. These men were responsible for implementing the 'shock therapy' transition to the market in the 1990s that left most Russians impoverished, while a handful became ultra-rich oligarchs. Chubais, who is from St Petersburg, is also thought to have been behind fellow Peterburger Vladimir Putin getting a job in Moscow with the presidential property management agency when he lost his position as deputy mayor in 1996.