Nikolay Podgornov, the first governor of Vologda Oblast, died on September 12, 2026. He was 77. Podgornov was born on May 15, 1949, in Gryazovetsky District, a rural pocket of the same region he would later run.
He took office in 1991, the year the Soviet Union dissolved, and held the governor's seat until 1996. His term opened at the most volatile point in modern Russian history.