As Russia's offensive in Ukraine stalls and backtracks, the Kremlin must deal with consequences beyond the immediate warzone. The effects of economic sanctions have had a significant effect, and Russia is already losing a steady stream of well-educated people fleeing from the escalation of repression by Vladimir Putin’s government. Regarding the brain drain, Cynthia S. Kaplan of UC Santa Barbara's Political Science department commented, “Many of these well-educated urban residents would have otherwise contributed to the Russian economy and development ... Russia has been largely unsuccessful in diversifying their economy beyond raw materials such as oil and gas; the drain of skilled and educated workers will make this even more difficult.”
The implications of an exodus are also political. “These people tend to be more oriented toward liberal democracy," Kaplan said. “The worsening political situation has driven them away, and now Russia will have even fewer people to pull in that direction.” For the younger Russians who fled as well as those who remained, Kaplan believes that “opportunities will generally become much less available to them as the state becomes a pariah — it really is a tragedy.”
Kaplan has been at UCSB since 1989, as the Cold War thawed across the Eastern Bloc. Her interests lie in the former Soviet Union, primarily Russia itself and the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Estonia, where she studies political participation, public opinion, and cultural identity. The issue of cultural and national identity has been a salient issue in Ukraine, as Putin tries to downplay or even erase its existence .