Vasyl Dzharty

Vasyl Heorhiyovych Dzharty (; 3 June 1958 – 17 August 2011) was a Ukrainian politician who served as Prime Minister of Crimea from 17 March 2010 until his death in August 2011.

Early life and career Dzharty was born in 1958, in Rozdolne, a village in the Starobesheve district of Donetsk Oblast in what was then the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. His father was a miner.

He completed his studies at Donetsk Polytechnic Institute. He then obtained a master's degree from Donetsk National Technical University in public administration. The Speaker of the Supreme Council of Crimea, Volodymyr Konstantinov, had nominated Dzharty, a member of the Party of Regions, as Crimea's next prime minister and chairman of the council of ministers.

Dzharty was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2010. He sought treatment for the disease in Ukraine, Germany and Russia. He was interred at Kozatske cemetery in the city of Makiivka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on August 18, 2011.

Accusations of criminal activity According to the Minister of Internal Affairs Yuriy Lutsenko, in the 1990s Dzharty headed the Makiivka gang and was known in a criminal world as "Vasia the Bat" for his proficiency with a baseball bat in racketeering.