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Comment by labrador | Hacker News Reader

Context: JetBrains' founders are Russian. They have offices in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Free speech isn't really a thing in Russia. To openly condemn the actions of the Russian government could have serious repercussions for them, but they did it anyway.

Спаси́бо, JetBrains.

- Dylan Beattie

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yes, people of HN need to realize what it takes for a Russian company to voice narratives not in line with the government (in this case supporting their war enemy)

for JetBrains this could mean losing contracts with other (pro-government) Russian companies, house searches for their own employees and executives and targeted “investigation” campaigns

they could be declared a “foreign agent” or “undesirable organization” which will make business impossible

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_foreign_agent_law

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_undesirable_organiza...

for Russian government “a friend of my enemy is my enemy”

> for JetBrains this could mean losing contracts with other (pro-government) Russian companies, house searches for their own employees and executives and targeted “investigation” campaigns

This can be true in many countries. Supporting people like Julian Assange, anti-colonial struggles for Kurdistan/Palestine, or opposing your State in any other way can get you in a lot of legal and para-legal trouble. All the more reason to be supportive of people and organizations taking a stand, wherever they are.

and if you’re still in doubt: one tweet is all it takes to build a case

they prosecute people for liking content on VK or blowing up houses in Minecraft

https://theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/10/russian-teenager-n...

> supporting their war enemy

Condemning the attacks is not the same as supporting their governments war enemy.

For the russian government? GP implies that this is the case.

Their head office is in Prague, Czech Republic and they're technically a Czech company... But point still stands, they're Russian and speaking against the war.

Not to detract from the importance of their statement today, but I’ve always thought that they were really a “Czech company” on paper only.

Take a look at their supposed Czech HQ office:

https://www.jetbrains.com/company/contacts/prague/

And then compare to their St Petersburg, Russia office:

https://www.jetbrains.com/company/contacts/st-petersburg/

Which one looks more like a HQ? The latter office is their largest [0] and also just happens to be where their CEO is based [1].

It’s always felt to me like their de facto HQ is in Russia.

I’m not trying to insinuate anything, I like their products and I’m pleased to see their statement today, but the “we’re a Czech company” thing has always felt a bit odd to me.

If anything though, it makes the stand they’re taking today even more significant.

[0] https://officesnapshots.com/2020/01/16/jetbrains-offices-sai...

[1] https://mobile.twitter.com/mshafirov

They are Czech company only on paper (probably for better access to western markets). They don't have any sort of real presence in Czech Republic, just offices for their global teams. Their products don't have Czech versions. Not even their website is available in Czech language. Highly unusual for a technical company. Even big global companies offer at least something in our local language.

"Not even their website is available in Czech language."

Very interesting.

FWIW last year I got an invoice from the Czech company and this year from a Dutch BV.

Yes, they're mostly Russian. But legal status matters in that Russia can't shut them down...

Maybe not Russia, but sanctions can hit them pretty hard. They might not be able to transfer money to Russian and western companies might not be comfortable using what is basically just Russian software with "Czech" sticker on it.

Russia can shut down its operations in St Petersbourg.

I would imagine after this they will shut down all Russian operations. Putin is on war footing and he's not about to allow dissent for much longer.

There are thousands of employees in JetBrains offices in Russia. Looking at Belarusian events around PandaDoc, it takes several months to relocate employees, some resign for personal reasons, others land in jail.

Now that PandaDoc relocated mostly to Kyiv... they have the problem of relocating further on.

them being a foreign company actually puts them at more risk, because they can legally be declared a foreign agent

I'm sure there are better sources than just pictures of the offices :D. For my own employer, you could apply the same logic and you would be wrong.

Lots of Russian companies are nominally headquartered in Prague. Reveal Sound is another example off the top of my head. There are certain advantages for companies that want to do business internationally.

They have thousands of employees in Russia.

Didn't stay they don't.

True but I for one still think it's valuable additional information.

I'm blown away that JetBrains hasn't been acquired by any other company yet. I've seen universally positive reviews on here about every one of their products and they're never publicly made a PR misstep to my knowledge. Shame that they're all stuck in Russia.

They got some backslash when introducing the new subscription model a while back. But they listened and changed it to what it is today (if you stop paying you can still use the version you originally bought).

But yeah, I got nothing bad to say. Use their products every day and am a happy customer.

Supposedly, Google had tried to buy them many times. But the owner is sitting pretty and doesn't want to sell. Probably a good move.

It's going to be increasingly difficult to do business there over the coming few years. I can't see this situation becoming easier any time soon.

What steps can founders in Russia seek to reduce the risks that they're facing?

> What steps can founders in Russia seek to reduce the risks that they're facing?

Honestly? Their best bet is to leave Russia for a neighboring NATO aligned country.

In terms of business risks, I believe Jetbrains are based in Czechia, so while there is risk for their founders, I'm not sure there's any business risk (whether Russian retribution or international sanctions) for JetBrains itself.

Their presence in Czechia is really small, it's not a Czech company in normal sense. My guess it's just a way how to get better access to western markets.

The business risk is that they might not be able to transfer money to Russia (where they probably have most employees) and western companies might not be comfortable using what is basically just Russian software with "Czech" sticker on it.

It might become difficult to pay Russian employees very soon.

personal moral or poltiical views aside, built software for the Russian market that aligns broadly with the national agenda. From the looks of it the decoupling is going to necessitate a lot of domestic infrastructure.

monero

Bravo. Makes me proud as a happy IntelliJ user.

I hope this statement would not turn lives of their developers located in Russia miserable. The owners are insulated from this danger. From what I read Russia already arrested 1700 protesters.

JetBrains is technically a Czech company though, as in the company is a legal entity in the Czech Republic.

Most of their employees (by a long shot) are in Russia though.

Phew. That would mean they'll never be completely cut off by measures like the proposed ban from SWIFT of all Russian interests.

I hope the people in Russian cities will be okay after this. It's one thing to denounce it from outside the country if you don't have to suffer the consequences :( . Putin's operatives are known to disappear people without a whole lot of provocation.

Speech is cheap. In the end it is just a PR. I doubt they'll have any serious repercussions because the message is vague on purpose. But everybody in the comments already give them credit for it. Actions/money are all that matter.

Speech is cheap in the West.

JetBrains has a large Russian presence.

I like to think I would be brave enough to say something in that situation. But you never know until the chips are down.

Kudos to the Jetbrains folks.

Indeed, a very brave statement, which carries very serious risks. Respect.

Sadly they will have stay away from open windows now.

Nice defenestration reference. Slow clap.

Nothing gets passed you, huh?

When Putin threatens the families of employees of Jetbrains in Russia, they will put spyware in your IDE.

They probably already have done so.

Switch immediately.

This is a case of people putting their conscience before their wallets when it really matters–a true act of bravery.

People of JetBrains, I salute you.

Also, could be a way to tell their customers that JetBrains is not a Russian cyberwar asset. A supply chain attack using JetBrains products would be scary, given their penetration.

It could be a deceptive signal, then. Condemning this invasion is cheap if it allows Putin to hold onto such a strategic espionage/supply chain attack vector.

Using that logic, we don't have free speech in the US either. Ask the Dixie Chicks, phil donahue, etc.

> To openly condemn the actions of the Russian government could have serious repercussions for them, but they did it anyway.

Considering most of jetbrains business is in the West, to support the russian government would have had serious repercussions. Condemning the russian government is actually a smart business decision on their part.

JetBrains founders side with the West. Apple CEO sides with China. Saudi Arabia and Israel are our best friends. Wonder what the common denominator is.

"serious repercussions" means things like being murdered by the state, imprisoned on trumped up charges and your family members being in physical danger. It does not mean "marginally decreased album sales".

The dixie chicks were never poisoned, imprisoned, and tortured.

A Soviet anecdote for you:

An American meets a Russian and says: "You don't have a free speech! I can go to White House and shout that Reagan is fool!" Russian answers: "Well I can go to Red Square and shout that Reagan is fool too".

As for JB: guess why they are Czech company for years now? My 2nd employer and my first step in IT career was an integrator who provided a few Russian government bodies the maintenance of their infra and developed systems as well as building datacenters for Gazprom, and a few years after the next year they had quite a big profit there was a criminal case opened and CEO was chilling for 2 years in London.

> Using that logic, we don't have free speech in the US either. Ask the Dixie Chicks, phil donahue, etc.

Sorry, which Dixie Chicks were locked up, disappeared or physically assaulted by government officials?

> Using that logic, we don't have free speech in the US either.

Only if you are so monumentally stupid as to equate being murdered by the state with people not buying your albums, I guess.

The band [formerly known as “Dixie Chicks”] said they had picked "that stupid name" as teenagers, and had wanted to change it for years; they said they were moved to change it when they saw the Confederate flag described as "the Dixie Swastika" on social media in June 2020.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chicks

I think OP's (exceedingly poor) point was in reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chicks#2003%E2%80%932005:_...

Horrible comparison. In particular none of them faced government sanctions which are most likely in the pipeline now as Russia goes to war. No doubt dissent will be quashed harshly in the coming weeks. I wish all the people at JetBrains the best of luck with this. I don't think it was necessarily a good move on the part of leadership who I suspect aren't in Russia currently...

> business decision

the tweet isn’t about business, it’s to support families of JetBrains employees

how could this impact JetBrains employees in Russia? I imagine I'd be worried if I were them

Money?

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