[rvba]

The elephant in the room is how many of those Russian programmers who run away from Russia are FSB / GRU assets.

Even if they are not spies, their parents or grandparents are probably still in Russia, so the state has methods to blackmail them into spying.

[ymolodtsov]

What's the incentive for a person in tech to be a FSB asset? FSB has no money.

They'd often go to school and try to recruit students who excel in math and computer science. But they'd never be able to match the salary and conditions of any tech startup.

The primary way hackers and developers end up in their hands is when they go blackhat and get arrested. Then FSB can keep you free as long as they cooperate. Still very different from a frontend developer working for Meta.

I could understand the point of them attacking your family but I haven't heard of any cases like this in Russia.

[rvba]

Everything in Russia is run by the FSB clique, so it is funny when you claim FSB has no money.

It has all the power and all the money.

You cant do any business with Russia without connections.

[tempaccount420]

Yep. Same tricks that the CCP plays on it's population.