MILLIONS OF EDUCATED RUSSIANS FLEE PUTINS RUSSIA [View all]

[Cattledog]

http://www.newsweek.com/millions-educated-russians-flee-putin-russia-567930?rx=us

The rapidly climbing numbers of Russians fleeing the country in search of political freedom and economic opportunity in the West has become the greatest threat to the stability of the Russian Federation, said an Atlantic Council analyst.

According to Alina Polyakova, director of research for Europe and Eurasia at the Atlantic Council, “the fact that you have this outward migration is a significant national security threat to the Russian Federation.”

She said: “This is the No. 1 threat to a Russian Federation that seeks to gain its foothold in the world again.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s leadership ushered in an era where a revanchist Russia has clamped down on social freedoms at home in order to exert its aggression and influence on the global stage.

However, these efforts may be impacted by instability at home. Between 2000 and 2014, approximately 1.8 million Russians left the country “under [Putin’s] watch,” said Polyakova, citing official numbers from the Russian Federation. “This trend has only intensified,” she added.

Harsh repression of civil society, sparse economic opportunity and the lack of an independent media have contributed to this exodus. “The very individuals who should be staying in Russia...to make it a great power in the economic sense, those are the individuals who are abandoning their country,” said Polyakova.