Russia's Ministry of Digital Development has acknowledged that sanctions may send its tech businesses to the wall, and announced a raft of measures designed to stop that happening – among them ending dependency on internet infrastructure hosted offshore and disconnecting from the global internet.
News of the industry support measures comes from an FAQ published by the Ministry on Saturday, which The Register has translated with online services. Among the questions asked is the poser: "What to do if IT specialists massively lose their jobs due to the suspension of the activities of foreign companies or a reduction in the export revenue of Russian developers?"
The answer is that Russia plans a round of subsidies aimed at sparking the development of software it's felt may soon be hard to source or operate. Other measures outlined in the FAQ are the ability to offer jobs to foreign workers without first having visas approved, a zero per cent tax rate for tech companies involved in activities the Kremlin feels are necessary, preferential mortgage rates for techies, and even exemption from military service.
Russia acknowledges sanctions could hurt its tech companies
Cuts taxes, offers subsidies, defers military service for developers – and preps for internet isolation
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