DUSHANBE, March 30, 2009, Asia-Plus -- Ex-director of TajikEnergoStroy (construction of energy facilities), which constructed the Norak hydroelectric power station (HPS), also former USSR Deputy Energy Minister and deputy of the State Duma (Russia’s lower chamber of parliament) of the second and the third convocations, Georgy Tikhonov, was killed in a home fire in the Moscow region on March 27. According to the preliminary investigation, the fire was caused by an electrical malfunction.

Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Georgy Koshlakov, who had been Deputy Chairman of Council of Ministers of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Tajikistan in the 1980s, said that Gorgy Tikhonov had made significant contribution to development of the energy and industrial sectors of Tajikistan.  “In the 1960s, he headed Norakgidrostroy that constructed the Norak HPS and construction of the Tajik aluminum smelter started under his leadership,” Koshlakov said.

Born in 1934, Georgy Tikhonov graduated from the Moscow Transport Institute.  He worked in Tajikistan from 1963 to 1981.  In 1981-1984, he was Deputy Energy Minister of the Soviet Union.  In 1989-1991, Georgy Tikhonov was deputy of the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union and from 1995 to 2003, he was deputy of the State Duma.  In the State Duma, Tikhonov headed the Committee for CIS Affairs and Ties with Fellow-countrymen Living Abroad.

The Asia-Plus staff expresses its deep condolences to the family and friends of Georgy Tikhonov.