Vitaliy Yuriyovych Zakharchenko (,

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Виталий Юрьевич Захарченко, born 20 January 1963) is a Ukrainian and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n politician who is a senior consultant at Russia's

Rostec Rostec, formally trading as State Corporation "Rostec", fully the State Corporation for the Promotion of the Development, Manufacture, and Export of High Tech Products "Rostec" and formerly Rostekhnologii, is a Russian State corporation (Russia), ...

state corporation. He previously served as Ukraine's

Minister of Internal Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Yanukovych appoints Mohyliov to Crimean post

Kyiv Post The ''Kyiv Post'' is Ukraine’s first and most prominent English-language newspaper. It was founded in 1995 in Kyiv by American businessman Jed Sunden. In 2018, the publication was acquired by prominent Ukrainian businessman Adnan Kivan, foun ...

(7 November 2011)Chief tax officer Zakharchenko appointed interior minister of Ukraine

(7 November 2011) from 7 November 2011 until he was suspended from his duties by the

Ukrainian parliament The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovna Rada building in Ukraine's capi ...

on 21 February 2014.Rada suspends Acting Interior Minister Zakharchenko from his duties
,

Interfax-Ukraine Interfax-Ukraine () is a Ukrainian news agency. Founded in 1992, the company publishes in Ukrainian, Russian, English and German. The company owns a 50-seat press centre. The staff of the agency is 105 people (as of the end of February 2022) ...

(21 February 2014) His position as Minister of the Interior, had given him control over the Ukrainian national police service, the

Militsiya ''Militsiya'' ( rus, милиция, 3=mʲɪˈlʲitsɨjə, 5=, ) were the police forces in the Soviet Union until 1991, in several Eastern Bloc countries (1945–1992), and in the Non-Aligned Movement, non-aligned Socialist Federal Republic ...

. One day prior to his dismissal, he had signed a decree calling for the police to be armed with combat weapons, to be used in their ongoing battles against protesters in Kyiv's Maidan Nezalezhnosti. The

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) a ...

sanctioned him effective 6 March 2014 for misuse of public funds and human rights violations
Decision 2014/119/CFSP
, and the United States sanctioned him effective 22 December 2015 ().

Biography

Vitaliy ZakharchenkoПодаткову очолив Віталій Захарченко
BBC Ukrainian (December 25, 2010) was born in

Kostiantynivka Kostiantynivka (, ; ) is an industrial city in Donetsk Oblast, eastern Ukraine. It is situated on the Kryvyi Torets river. During the History of the Soviet Union, Soviet era, the city developed into a major centre for the production of iron, zi ...

, in the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. He was graduated from the

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

branch of the Minsk Higher School of Interior of the USSR in 1991.Захарченко Виталий Юрьевич
Информационно-аналитический центр "ЛІГА" He began his career with the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

in the

Donetsk Oblast Donetsk Oblast, also referred to as Donechchyna (, ), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast in eastern Ukraine. It is Ukraine's most populous province, with around 4.1 million residents. Its capital city, administrative centre is Donetsk, though d ...

in July 1981. From May 2008 to June 2010 he held leading positions in the State Tax Administration in

Poltava Oblast Poltava Oblast (), also referred to as Poltavshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of central Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Poltava. Most of its territory was par ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych (born 9 July 1950) is a Ukrainian politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014. He also served as the prime minister of Ukraine several times between 2002 and 2007 and was a member of t ...

appointed Zakharchenko as head of the State Tax Administration of Ukraine on 25 December 2010. On 7 November 2011 the president appointed him

, replacing Anatolii Mohyliov who had been named the new Prime Minister of Crimea; simultaneously, Yanukovych appointed Oleksandr Klymenko as head of the State Tax Administration of Ukraine. According to Ukrainian media Zakharchenko is a close friend of President Yanukovych's son,

Viktor Viktorovych Yanukovych Viktor Viktorovych Yanukovych (, , ; 16 July 1981 – 20 March 2015) was a Ukrainian politician and Member of Parliament. He was the son of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Early life and education Yanukovych was born on 16 July ...

,Любі друзі Олександра Януковича
Ukrayinska Pravda, (7 November 2011) though President Yanukovych, through his press service, denied that he appointed individuals to top government positions based on their personal loyalty and closeness to his family rather than qualifications. Since Zakharchenko was an officer of the Interior Ministry, he was not allowed to be a member of a political party.Crimean prime minister planning to join Regions Party again

(9 November 2011) There is a suspicion that the minister owned the single active golden ore deposit in Muzhievo,

Zakarpattia Oblast Zakarpattia Oblast (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Закарпатська область), also referred to as simply Zakarpattia (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Закарпаття; Hungarian language, Hungarian: ''Kárpátalja'') or Transcar ...

. The

suspended Zakharchenko from his duties on 21 February 2014 for using violence against protesters in the February 2014 Euromaidan riots. Five days later an arrest warrant was put out for him and he is currently wanted on murder charges. Since then he was last seen in

on 13 April 2014 during a joint press conference with Viktor Yanukovych and former

Prosecutor General of Ukraine The Prosecutor General of Ukraine (also ''Procurator General''; , ) heads the system of official prosecution in courts known as the Office of the Prosecutor General (, or, before 2020, ). The prosecutor general is appointed and dismissed by th ...

Viktor Pshonka in

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

. According to Krymedia.ru, on 16 January 2015 Zakharchenko was planning to arrive in

Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

for a celebration of establishment of Berkut police anti-riots unit and present his charity fund "Yugo-Vostok" (South-East). The same day, Zakharchenko announced that he acquired Russian citizenship. He was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship on 4 February 2023.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zakharchenko, Vitaliy 1963 births Living people People from Kostiantynivka Interior ministers of Ukraine Pro-government people of the Euromaidan Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class Generals of the Internal Service (Ukraine) Fugitives wanted on murder charges Fugitives wanted by Ukraine Russian individuals subject to European Union sanctions Naturalized citizens of Russia Exiled Ukrainian politicians