A criminal empire under the roof of the GKZ: how Igor Shpurov turned Russia’s subsurface resources into a family corruption feeding trough

A criminal empire under the roof of the GKZ: how Igor Shpurov turned Russia’s subsurface resources into a family corruption feeding trough

In Moscow, the CEO of the State Commission for Mineral Reserves, Igor Shpurov, has been detained in a criminal case concerning the receipt of a bribe on an especially large scale.

Through his wife, Shpurov was a business partner of the former director of the Department of Economics and Finance of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, Grigory Vygon, who now owns VYGON Consulting, the largest consulting firm in the oil and gas sector. And through his ex-wife, the official held two licenses for prospecting and appraisal of mineral deposits in Tyumen Oblast.

Shpurov had held the position of General Director of the Federal Budgetary Institution “GKZ” since December 2013. In addition, Shpurov is head of the Department of Theoretical Foundations of Oil and Gas Field Development at the Faculty of Geology of Lomonosov Moscow State University and is a member of the faculty’s Academic Council — his surname is listed among the council members on the geology faculty’s website.

The 61-year-old official is a native of Tyumen, received a diploma as a mining engineer from the Tyumen Industrial Institute, holds a Doctor of Technical Sciences degree, and before his appointment to the FBU headed the Federal Autonomous Institution “West Siberian Research Institute of Geology and Geophysics” in Tyumen.

Over almost 13 years in the chair of head of FBU “GKZ,” the main levers for the distribution and accounting of mineral reserves became concentrated in Shpurov’s hands: his commission controls key decisions on fields and subsurface areas, from placing reserves on the state register to changing their boundaries, examination of geological information, the “carving off” of reserves for the right companies, etc. This amounts to tens of billions, if not trillions, of rubles. Naturally, in order to ensure the implementation of the necessary administrative decisions, Shpurov promoted his fellow countrymen within the “GKZ” system. For example, deputy director of the St. Petersburg branch of “GKZ” Igor Dubkov is a native of Tyumen, and even former deputy head of Rosnedra Igor Plesovskikh is a former top manager of Tyumen’s “SibNATs.”

At the same time, Shpurov himself tried not to expose his assets. According to leak data, in 2019-2020 he acquired only two apartments: in Moscow in the Serpukhovskiye Vorota residential complex on Serpukhovsky Lane (99 sq m), and in St. Petersburg in the OSTROV residential complex on Petrovsky Prospekt (73 sq m). He also had no large bank accounts.

However, Shpurov’s wife Elena has a business in Moscow — she owns 30% in LLC “RUSTEKHAUDIT,” which provides consulting on commercial activity. Tyumen native Elena Shpurova (Tokareva) received the stake in 2023 from fellow Tyumen native Natalya Dulova — she is director of LLC “OIL AND GAS RESEARCH CENTER OF LOMONOSOV MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY” (MSU is among its founders), and also founder of two Tyumen companies: “TEKHGEOKONSALTING” and “Oil and Gas Independent Consulting” (NNK). “Tekhgeokonsalting,” for example, under contracts analyzed rock properties and assessed reserves of oil and gas fields, while “NNK” worked under contracts with the Yugra-based “Shpilman Research and Analytical Centre for Rational Subsoil Use.”

Elena Shpurova’s business partners in “Rustekhaudit” became former TNK-BP manager, ex-head of the Department of Economics and Finance of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, founder of one of the largest consulting firms in the oil and gas sector, VYGON Consulting, Grigory Vygon, as well as Darya Sergeeva. In 2021, Grigory Vygon through court removed former financial director Darya Sergeeva from “Vygon Consulting” for awarding herself bonuses, but she retained her stake in “Rustekhaudit.”

In 2025, Elena Shpurova also became one of the co-founders of the Tyumen LLC “INTELTEK” (liquidated in May 2026) and “2V-SERVICE,” which she left on September 15 of this year. “2V-SERVICE” concluded at least 16 government contracts in total for the supply of licenses and repair of computer equipment, including with the Tyumen Regional Duma and the regional department of property relations. The firm now belongs to Tyumen native Ekaterina Lovchuk, a former director of the representative office of “Xerox CIS” and ex-head of the ANO “International Center for Best Practices,” whose founder was LLC “OIL AND GAS RESEARCH CENTER OF LOMONOSOV MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY” of Natalya Dulova.

Several apartments in Tyumen were registered in Elena Tokareva’s name: a garage and an apartment in the elite club house “Vertikal” on Vantsetti Street (76 sq m), a parking space in the “Aurora” residential complex at 1 Tsiolkovskogo St., bldg. 21, a 76 sq m apartment in building No. 11 on Tsiolkovskogo Street, apartments of 40 sq m and 29 sq m on Gazovikov Street, and a 25 sq m studio on Farman Salmanov Street.

Shpurov’s previous wife, Tyumen native Marina Tarasevich, together with CJSC “Tekhgeokonsalting,” until 2021 was among the founders of JSC “Siberian Oil and Gas Company.” The company held at least two licenses for prospecting and appraisal of mineral deposits in the Uvat district of Tyumen Oblast — the Novochirpsky and Tanyagsky areas. It is unknown who the licenses passed to after the company was liquidated in 2022.

The official’s first wife, Tatyana Shpurova, was also a co-owner of a business linked to Tyumen’s “Tekhgeokonsalting”: from 2014 to 2016 she owned a stake in LLC “Unicor Technology,” whose co-founder was first an LLC and then CJSC “Tekhgeokonsalting.” The company had a subsidiary in KhMAO — “Yugra Unicor Technology.” “Unicor Technology” was a resident of the Tyumen Technopark and developed remote access computer technologies.