But major cities, and therefore most of the workforce, are in Europe. I mean what else, are you going to make the argument that Russia belongs in Asia more than in Europe?
What Russians think is irrelevant - their country lies across both Europe and Asia, so if we want to get an overview of "European" workers, then yes, Russians do absolutely count.
They can even call themselves Australian if they want to, but it doesn't change the fact that anything West of Urals is continental Europe. Moscow, most importantly, is a European city, regardless of how Russians feel about such description.
Which brings us to my original point again: noone cares where the landmass is.
Russia does not identify with Europe by choice. On Russian TV there is nothing but mocking Europe and all it stands for; majority of Russians poll as actively hostile to Europe. Russians can't freely travel across Europe (nor can Europeans to Russia). Russia conducts military exercises simulating attacks on European capitals, and actively works to undermine and disintegrate European institutions.
Why do you people insist Russia has to be on the list is beyond me.
Russians can and do travel freely over vast swaths of Eastern part of European continent. This is incidentally a huge chunk of Europe the continent. Moreover, Russians are Europeans. It seems to me you are confused by the adjective European in European Union. European Union is a large union of states, with most territory in Europe. There are (quite a few) more countries in Europe that are not a part of EU. They are 100% as "European" as someone living in EU.
Most of Russian population insists they want nothing to do with Europe or European values - all of them. Does landmass outweighs their opinion for you?
It's pointless to talk about comparing salaries in Europe unless there's some market continuity and no significant barriers for workforce. Absolutely not the case with Russia vs Europe, relocation at will without preexisting employment guarantee/sponsorship is not possible.
If you want to stick to the continent though, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus, Ukraine and Turkey should be there as well. Belarus and Ukraine in particular have IT/developer markets of same magnitude as Russia.
