Viktor Shershunov (16 October 1950 – 20 September 2007) was the governor of Kostroma Oblast, Russia

Kostroma Oblast

Kostroma Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Kostroma.Major historic towns include Kostroma, Sharya, Nerekhta, Galich, Soligalich, and Makaryev. Textile industries have been developed there since the early 18th century...

. He previously worked at the Prosecutor's Office of Kostroma Oblast.

Born in Lenger (Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

), Shershunov was elected governor in 1996 and re-elected in 2000 with a large majority. In 2005, he was reappointed by Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...

 after direct elections for governors was replaced with presidential appointment.

He was a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation

Communist Party of the Russian Federation

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is a Russian political party. It is the second major political party in the Russian Federation.-History:...

. He was also a member of the Federation Soviet until the time of his death. He died on 20 September 2007, aged 56, in a car crash in Moscow Oblast

Moscow Oblast

Moscow Oblast , or Podmoskovye , is a federal subject of Russia . Its area, at , is relatively small compared to other federal subjects, but it is one of the most densely populated regions in the country and, with the 2010 population of 7,092,941, is the second most populous federal subject...

.