Vasyl Durdynets

Biography and career Vasyl Durdynets was born into peasant family in Czechoslovakia before World War II. In 1960 he graduated in the Law faculty of Ivan Franko Lviv State University. In 1958 through 1970 Durdynets was an active member of the Komsomol of Ukraine (1958–1966) and Komsomol (1966–1970) in Lviv, Moscow, and Kyiv. In 1970, he became a staff member of the Lviv regional committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine.

In 1978 Durdynets was appointed a deputy and in 1982 he became the first deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, holding the post until February 1991.

Since 1997 Vasyl Durdynets was promoted to the rank of a general of Internal Affairs Service of Ukraine.

In August 1997 he was admitted to the Council of National Security and Defense of Ukraine (RNBO). On 17 February 2000 he became a member of the government committee in the reformation of the agrarian sector and in the affairs of ecology and extraordinary situations.

In 2002 Durdynets unsuccessfully ran for parliament in the 73rd electoral district in Zakarpattia Oblast as non-affiliated politician.

His state's awards include 5th and 4th Classes of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 3rd Class of the Order of Merit, Order of the Red Banner of Labour, Order of the Badge of Honour, Order for Personal Courage, and Personal Firing Weapon.

On 25 April 2011 the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych awarded Durdynets the "Distinguished Juror of Ukraine" as an advisor of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a participant in the liquidation of consequences of Chernobyl disaster, and a general of Internal Service of Ukraine.

Durdynets is an honorary professor of the National Academy of Internal Affairs.