Sir Keir Starmer should increase the number of visas offered to liberal-minded Russians to encourage a “brain drain” from the country, a think tank has suggested.
The prime minister should aim to create “a pro-western Russian exile community” as part of a strategy of undermining President Putin, it argued.
The report by the Henry Jackson Society, Russian Reality Check: How to Destabilise the Kremlin, suggested that increasing the number of “high-potential individual” visas and student visas for Russians would “benefit the British government to the detriment of Russia”.
It said: “Such actions would drain Russia of its most talented professionals, while fostering a pro-western Russian exile community that could play a role in future political change.”
Britain should also strengthen its sanctions against Russia,
