The Russian Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) has added Sergei Guriev, an economist born in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, to a list of ‘terrorists and extremists’.
Information about his inclusion appeared in the updated register published on the agency’s website. The entry contains the economist’s name, date of birth, and place of birth. No specific justification for the inclusion was provided in the announcement.
On the same day, former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and the editor-in-chief of Russian independent media outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe, Kirill Martynov, were also added to the list.
Rosfinmonitoring maintains the register in accordance with current legislation. After a person is added to the list, various restrictions may be imposed on them, primarily the blocking of bank accounts.
Reuters reported, citing materials from Russian law enforcement agencies, that Guriev, Kasyanov, and Martynov were added to the list on the basis of a criminal case in which the defendants were charged with creating a ‘terrorist community’ and attempting a ‘violent seizure of power’, which they allegedly tried to carry out as members of the Anti-War Committee of Russia.
Guriev was born on 21 October 1971 in Ordzhonikidze (now Vladikavkaz). His family later moved to Kyiv, after which he moved to Moscow, where he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He later worked at the New Economic School (NES), where he served as rector, and has also held managerial positions in various economic institutions.
In 2011, he was one of the authors of an expert report on the case of convicted Russian businessperson Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which concluded that accusations of embezzlement and tax evasion had not been proven.
In 2013, Guriev left Russia and continued his academic work abroad, including as a professor of economics at Sciences Po in Paris. He later served as chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In 2024, he was appointed dean of the London Business School.
The year prior, Russia’s Justice Ministry designated Guriev as a ‘foreign agent’.
The Anti-War Committee of Russia is an organisation founded by a group of Russian public figures and civil activists in February 2022, following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The group’s manifesto states that its goals are to stop the war and to oppose the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Many members of the movement have left Russia after the start of the war.
Rosfinmonitoring had previously added businesspersons Boris Zimin and Mikhail Kokorich, as well as political scientist Ekaterina Schulmann, to the list of terrorists and extremists; they are also members of the Anti-War Committee of Russia.
Nate Ostiller
