He served as the first Governor of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and as the Auditor of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation.

During his leadership in Chukotka, there was a sharp decline in industrial production, the population decreased several times, and most of the workers' settlements were eliminated.

The name of the governor appeared in several cases related to tax and financial offenses - non-return of loans, illegal sale of quotas for the extraction of aquatic biological resources, and misappropriation of budget funds.

Immediately before the next gubernatorial elections in 2000, Nazarov was summoned for questioning by the Federal Tax Police Service, shortly after which he withdrew his candidacy.

In 2002, Nazarov submitted a request to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation to verify the legitimacy of the Baker-Shevardnadze agreement of 1990 on the division between the Soviet Union and the United States of the Bering Strait, according to which the USSR lost about 200 thousand km2 of sea territory.