Igor Pavlovich Farkhutdinov (russian: Игорь Павлович Фархутдинов; April 16, 1950 – August 20, 2003) was governor of

Sakhalin Oblast Sakhalin Oblast ( rus, Сахали́нская о́бласть, r=Sakhalínskaya óblast', p=səxɐˈlʲinskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast) comprising the island of Sakhalin and the K ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

during 1995–2003.

Biography

Igor Farkhutdinov was born in 1950 in

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk (, also ; rus, Новосиби́рск, p=nəvəsʲɪˈbʲirsk, a=ru-Новосибирск.ogg) is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the Russian Census ...

to a Russian mother and

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

father. His maternal grandfather participated in the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

on Sakhalin island. In 1972 Igor graduated from the Krasnoyarsk Polytechnic Institute (now part of the

Siberian Federal University Siberian Federal University (russian: Сибирский федеральный университет, ''Sibirskiĭ federalʹnyĭ universitet'', often shortened to SibFU, СФУ) is a multidisciplinary university located in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia ...

) as engineer-economist. He played for the rugby team "Polytechnic" (now Krasny Yar). For the next five years he worked at Tymovskoye power plant,

. From 1977 to 1985 Farkhutdinov was working in Tymovsky District committee, then Sakhalin Oblast committee of

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...

, instructor of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

regional committee. From 1985 to 1991 he was the head of

Nevelsk Nevelsk (russian: Не́вельск; ja, 本斗, ''Honto'') is a port town and the administrative center of Nevelsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, located on the southwest coast of the Sakhalin Island, from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the ad ...

. Until August 1991, he was member of the Communist Party. From 31 December 1991 to 24 April 1995 — Chairman of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk City Executive Committee, then Mayor of

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk ( rus, Ю́жно-Сахали́нск, a=Ru-Южно-Сахалинск.ogg, p=ˈjuʐnə səxɐˈlʲinsk, literally "South Sakhalin City") is a city on Sakhalin island, and the administrative center of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. I ...

. On 24 April 1995, he was appointed Head of Administration of Sakhalin Oblast. A month later, the island suffered from a disastrous

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

, that devastated the town of Neftegorsk. Farkhutdinov won the 1996 gubernatorial election and successfully re-elected in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. During his governorship two oil and gas projects were launched on the island,

Sakhalin-1 The Sakhalin-I (russian: Сахалин-1) project, a sister project to Sakhalin-II, is a consortium for production of oil and gas on Sakhalin, Sakhalin Island and immediately offshore. It operates three natural gas field, fields in the Okhotsk ...

and Sakhalin-2.

Death

On 20 August 2003, a

Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (russian: Ми-8, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s and introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968. It is now produced by Russia. In addition t ...

helicopter disappeared in

Kamchatka Oblast Kamchatka Oblast (russian: Камча́тская о́бласть, ''Kamchatskaya oblast'') was, until being incorporated into Kamchatka Krai on July 1, 2007, a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). To the north, it bordered Magadan Oblas ...

, on board of which was a group of officials from Sakhalin, including governor Farkhutdinov. The helicopter took off at 05:40 AM Moscow time from the Izluchina helipad (

Elizovo Airport Elizovo Airport (russian: Аэропорт Елизово) , also known as Yelizovo Airport or Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Airport, is located in the Russian Far East city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Kamchatka Krai. Its main runway is long. Milit ...

) in the direction of

Severo-Kurilsk Severo-Kurilsk (russian: Се́веро-Кури́льск; ja, 柏原, ''Kashiwabara'') is a town and the administrative center of Severo-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, located in the northern part of the Kuril Islands, on the i ...

Paramushir Paramushir (russian: Парамушир, Paramushir, ja, 幌筵島, Paramushiru-tō, ain, パラムシㇼ, translit=Para=mu=sir) is a volcanic island in the northern portion of Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Oc ...

island. An hour later the helicopter was lost. It crashed 150 km south of

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky ( rus, Петропавловск-Камчатский, a=Петропавловск-Камчатский.ogg, p=pʲɪtrɐˈpavləfsk kɐmˈtɕatskʲɪj) is a city and the administrative, industrial, scientific, and cultur ...

, near Opala volcano, losing control as a result of the collision of the rotor blades with the tail boom. On August 23, the burnt wreckage of a helicopter was discovered. All 17 passengers and three crew members died. They were buried in the courtyard of the Resurrection Cathedral in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. On 10 February 2017,

Prime Minister of Russia The chairman of the government of the Russian Federation, also informally known as the prime minister, is the nominal head of government of Russia. Although the post dates back to 1905, its current form was established on 12 December 1993 fo ...

Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev ( rus, links=no, Дмитрий Анатольевич Медведев, p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪdˈvʲedʲɪf; born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician who has been serving as the dep ...

signed an order to assign the name of Igor Farkhutdinov to a previously unnamed island of the Kuril archipelago.

References

1950 births 2003 deaths Governors of Sakhalin Oblast Heads of the federal subjects of Russia who died in office Members of the Federation Council of Russia (1996–2000) Our Home – Russia politicians Politicians from Novosibirsk Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Russia Tatar people of Russia {{russia-politician-stub