The State Duma proposed to ban IT specialists from working abroad

The State Duma proposed to resume the discussion on the ban on remote work for IT employees, according to the draft resolution of the Sejm.

The document was created at the end of December last year after a meeting between MPs and the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Maksut Shadayev. In it, the Department presented recommendations regarding the introduction of a ban on remote work for IT specialists who left Russia.

The restriction will affect those IT employees who work with state information systems (GIS), with systems of critical IT infrastructure facilities (CII facilities), as well as with personal data in companies, according to the draft resolution.

Discussion in Parliament on banning remote work for citizens who have gone abroad started in December last year. Then Senator Andrei Klishas announced restrictions for Russians who had fled the mobilization to other countries. He spoke of bans that would “make staying abroad less comfortable.” Later, the senator explained that a bill restricting the possibility of working abroad for employees of Russian companies will soon be submitted to the State Duma.

The co-author of the bill, United Russia MP Andrei Isaev added that tax non-residents of Russia will not be able to conclude remote work contracts in certain specialties. According to him, this may particularly affect employees who work in the banking sector. The exact list of specials that will win banned, the government would have to decide, he said.

Wherein The Ministry of Digitization opposed such a ban. The department recognized that due to the initiative, the pace of development of digital platforms and solutions in Russia may slow down. On the contrary, it is necessary to use “the entire available intellectual potential” of developers, the ministry noted.

Later, the head of the Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko, proposed a ban on telework only who left Russia IT professionals working with personal data.

In large Russian companies (such as Sberbank and Norilsk Nickel), employees have already been told that remote work is “undesirable” for them, Nestka wrote, citing five interlocutors in such enterprises. At the same time, the ban on working from abroad in Sberbank was in force even before the start of the war in Ukraine. At the same time, Yandex, which had previously been loyal to working from abroad, began to force some employees to return to Russia, The Bell wrote.