Weighing reputational and moral consequences of leaving Russia or staying

Maybe more practical than moral, but nations around the world have put sanctions on Russia. This would theoretically hamper Russia's economic growth relative to other nations over time. (Although the Russian kleptocracy was already doing that to some degree.) Are you sure it's wise to try to build a global startup in such a country?

Russia is in a state of demographic decline with an aging population due to insufficient birth rates in recent decades. Labor shortages were projected as early as next year. Each worker will have to support more and more retirees.

Russia's strategy in war (if you can call it that) seems to be to throw more young men into the meat grinder. Because the soldiers are also working-age men, this will exacerbate the problem, not just due to the direct warfighter casualties, but due to the resulting brain drain and human capital flight that causes as the best and brightest rightly fear conscription and flee. This is not speculation; it is already happening. How much longer will you have the option of leaving? Borders can be closed to emigrants, especially in times of war. The risk of that seems high, so you'd probably keep your options more open by leaving now. It's probably easier to get back in than out.

Probably the only feasible way of fixing the demography is mass immigration. But who would want to move into a sanctioned pariah state that might conscript you for war? This is probably not happening any time soon.

On the question of repute, consider TikTok, a social media app with overwhelming popularity in the younger generation. Despite this, the United States, although famous for granting broad freedom to do things, is seriously considering banning it, due to the perceived influence of the Chinese Communist Party. It's already banned in India and in Montana (although not yet enforced pending litigation), and much more widely banned on government devices, not just in the U.S., but in Australia, Canada, and much of Europe. Being based in China has been bad for its business, due to China's poor reputation.

Similarly, Kaspersky Lab (Лаборатория Касперского), though well-regarded internationally for years, has been facing similar government bans due to allegations of ties with the Russian Federal Security Service (since 2017 in the U.S., at least). Any tech startup in Russia potentially faces similar hurdles for international adoption.

Morally, it's tricky, but there is a sense in which anyone living in Russia and at least paying taxes is complicit in the war and human rights abuses. However, everyone has to live somewhere and touching the international economy at all is going to be connected to some negative consequences somewhere. The global economy has a lot of abuses. I don't think this justifies becoming a hermit, which has a different set of moral problems, but one can do relatively better or worse here.

It's not clear to me that minimizing contacts with friends and family in Russia would be a net good. Breaking up family seems bad to me on its face. You seem concerned they might be a bad influence. But influence goes both ways; you can be a positive influence on them. Still, those you interact with most will influence your thinking. Choose friends wisely.

I left in 2011. My advice is to leave soon. And not even for reasons of ethics, business, or comfort. More like, for the spirit. Even if Russia is quite comfortable now, in broad strokes the situation is this: you're young, and the curtain is slowly closing. When you're older, would you rather be the older person who stayed in, or the person who took a chance on the world?

You are not responsible in the slightest for the actions of those who rule you.

They take your money, yes, but that makes you a victim, not an accomplice.

I'm not involved in politics or the military action, but I can't help but feel implicated by my government's actions as a citizen here

Please consider the implications of not only being a citizen, but also taxpayer, and customer to other taxpayers. Through taxes, you work indirectly supports the Russian war effort.

I'm interested in building global startups,

If you succeed while still in Russia, what is stopping those with powerful connections from simply taking over from you? From what you say, it does not sound like you have connections of your own that would allow you to protect yourself?

You do not mention you eligibility for getting drafted, but unless you have strong reasons to believe you would not be (e.g. you are female), you also need to consider that possibility.

Chances are things in Russia will become worse before they become better. Have you considered how Putin's next big stupid move might affect you? What happens next time something like the Prigozhin/Wagner rebellion is a bit less of a farse? Or how it might affect you if Putin dies and Kadyrov decides it's his chance to take over?

As someone who left, I think it's net-positive to leave even from selfish perspective: you would be able to use the internet and buy things like a normal human being. And you wouldn't need to think and worry about ethics or possibility of being drafted. I don't think I ever thought that it was rational to stay - it was mostly the inconvenience of moving things.

The main long-term costs are that Moscow is a decent city and, yes, friends and family. But you either can visit them, or things are so bad you'll be glad you left anyway. And you can come back - the worst case is not much worse than a vocation.

I'm not involved in politics or the military action, but I can't help but feel implicated by my government's actions as a citizen here. Specifically, the increasing authoritarianism and human rights issues worry me.

You're indirectly supporting war with taxes, especially as someone in relatively high-paid job. At least 35% of taxes you pay do go towards buying Iranian drones or paying salaries for soldiers raping civilians. The moral effect of this is worse than average citizen, as you're in high paying job,

The Russian regime is not that bad. It has for example caused fewer civilian deaths in Ukraine since 2014 than the Israeli regime has caused in a few months in Gaza -- and Ukraine has 74 times as many people as Gaza has.

If Texas left the United States and started accepting military aid from China, as an American, I would probably want my government to force Texas back into the United States even if that requires invading Texas and causing many casualties.

Also, even if the reputation of the Russian government remains poor, Westerners will continue to treat individual Russians okay because of the fairly strong ethic in the West and especially in the US under which every individual should be judged on their own merits, not by the group they belong to, particularly if they were born into the group. I cannot imagine for example your staying in Russia significantly reducing the probability of your winning a grant from a Western organization to work on AI safety or effective altruism with the one exception that the organization might be prohibited by sanctions imposed by Western governments from sending money into Russia.

On the other hand, Stockholm syndrome is a powerful cognitive bias which might bias you against emigrating.