Deputy Energy Minster Vyacheslav Sinyugin is leaving for "a different job," the Energy Ministry said in a statement Monday.
Sinyugin oversaw the power industry and headed state hydropower giant Hydro-OGK, before it was renamed RusHydro, until joining the ministry in 2008. Prior to Hydro-OGK, he worked in Unified Energy System.
Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko has already agreed to Sinyugin's departure. "Most likely, Vyacheslav Yuryevich [Sinyugin] will begin working on a new project in the industry," Shmatko said in the statement.
Industry sources have discussed Sinyugin's imminent dismissal since October, after the country's technical safety watchdog listed him and former UES head Anatoly Chubais as among those responsible for last year's accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant, which left 75 people dead.
The Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Atomic Inspection said it found that Sinyugin did not ensure the adequate technical state of the dam's equipment or the regularity of its subsequent checkups.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin removed Sinyugin from the government commission for restoring Sayano-Shushenskaya in December.
No official replacement has been announced, but Interfax reported that the ministry had already decided on Andrei Shishkin, chief of Tyumen Energy Company and a former executive at Viktor Vekselberg's IES power holding. Other candidates previously mentioned in the media include Sergei Ivanov, first deputy head of Federal Grid Company, and Andrei Malyshev, deputy head of Rusnano.
The Interfax report said Sinyugin was being considered to head Gazprom's energy holdings.
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