MOSCOW, November 3. /TASS/. Russian economist Sergey Guriev has been appointed as Chief Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). According to a statement published in the bank’s official Twitter account, Guriev will start commencing his duties in autumn 2016.

Earlier TASS reported that Guriev was negotiating appointment as Chief Economist at EBRD instead of Erik Berglof. The appointment sets a precedent of a Russian national taking the position of the bank’s Chief Economist.

Guriev was a tenured faculty member and Rector of the New Economic School in Russia from 2004 to 2013. He was member of a number of expert councils and commissions at Russian President and Government as well as member of supervisory board of Russia’s top lender Sberbank. In 2013, he left Russia for France. According to the expert himself, his leaving was related to risks caused by preparation of an expert report on Yukos case, which doubted the guilt of the company’s management in tax crimes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on October 1 that Guriev’s departure from Russia could not have been related to claims from authorities, and that his coming back would oblige. President added that no one has held demands on him.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development was established in 1991 to help build a new, post-Cold War era in Central and Eastern Europe. Currently, 64 countries as well as the European Union /EU/ and the European Investment Bank are its shareholders. Russia joined EBRD in 1992. Up to the present time, Russia accounted for around one third of all bank’s transactions. In 1992-2014, around 800 projects with more than 24 bln euro were financed in Russia.

EBRD’s Chief Economist is in charge of economic researches and forecasts. Berglof quitted the bank in end-2014. In July 2014, EBRD decided to suspend financing of new projects in Russia at the initiative of its shareholders from the EU due to anti-Russia sanctions.