Former Formula Renault 3.5 champion Mikhail Aleshin will return to the series this season with Russian squad Team RFR.
The 2010 champion, who raced a part season in GP2 with Carlin last year, returns to the Renault-backed series as part of a project to develop a fully Russian team, which was known as KMP Racing in 2011.
"It will be great to come back to the series with the only Russian team," said Aleshin. "Competing under our country's flag is a tremendous responsibility for us.
"Besides, everybody knows that this season the series will feature a fantastic new car with a more powerful engine and lots of other technical improvements. This is also a challenge for us. I'm sure we'll manage it, and fans will see Russians on the podium many times."
Anton Nebylitskiy will join his countryman at the team to complete an all-Russian driver lineup. Team co-owner Dmitry Sapgir said that he hopes to have a full team of Russian engineers in the future as well.
"This year we've decided to select only Russian drivers," he said. "Unfortunately, this doesn't yet apply to all members working in the team, but we hope this will develop in the future to also have Russian technicians."
Aleshin made a one-off return to FR 3.5 with KMP at the Hungaroring last year, finishing 11th and eighth in the two races.