Sergei Furgal

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he was involved in scrap metal trading. In 2005, he became head of the Khabarovsk branch of the LDPR. In 2007, he became a deputy of the State Duma. In September 2018, he won the gubernatorial election in Khabarovsk Krai in a protest vote, beating the incumbent head of the region, Vyacheslav Shport, by more than 40 percentage points, despite having hardly campaigned at all. During his short governorship, Furgal took a number of steps to combat official privilege: he cut his own salary, discarded government-owned luxury goods, reduced staffing and flight costs, and cut supplementary pensions for officials and deputies. In addition, the governor submitted a bill to the regional legislature on the return of direct elections of district heads - the law was passed. Under him, the regional parliament passed laws limiting the powers of the governor.
On 9 July 2020, Furgal was detained and taken to Moscow, where the next day a court ruled to send him to custody in the case of organising murders and an attempted murder that took place in 2004. On 20 July, President Putin stripped him of his powers due to loss of trust.
In November 2021, Furgal was charged in a new case - the embezzlement of funds from the Amurstal plant.
On 10 February 2023, Furgal was sentenced to 22 years in a strict regime penal colony.
On 3 December 2025, Furgal was sentenced to 25 years in the embezzlement case, taking into account the previous sentence.

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