Vitaly_Zakharchenko
Vitaliy Zakharchenko
Ukrainian-Russian politician and businessman
Vitaliy Yuriyovych Zakharchenko (Ukrainian: Віталій Юрійович Захарченко, Russian: Виталий Юрьевич Захарченко, born 20 January 1963)[4] is a Ukrainian and Russian[5] politician who is a senior consultant at Russia's Rostec state corporation. He previously served as Ukraine's Minister of Internal Affairs[6][7] from 7 November 2011 until he was suspended from his duties by the Ukrainian parliament on 21 February 2014.[8] His position as Minister of the Interior, had given him control over the Ukrainian national police service, the Militsiya. 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.[9] The Council of the European Union 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 (81 FR 69190).