Vasyl Dzharty

Vasyl Heorhiyovych Dzharty (Василь Георгійович Джарти; 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.

Political career
Dzharty served as the Donetsk Oblast's first deputy governor. He then became Mayor of Makiivka, a city in the Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine. He was elected to the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's national parliament, serving during its fifth and sixth sessions as a member of the Party of Regions. From 2006 to 2007, Dzharty served as Ukraine's Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources.

Prime Minister of Crimea
Dzharty became the Prime Minister of Crimea on 17 March 2010, succeeding outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Plakida. 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. As required by the Ukrainian Constitution, the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, had to personally approve of Dzharty's nomination, which he did. The Supreme Council of Crimea, which acts as Crimea's parliament, overwhelmingly approved Dzharty's nomination on March 17, 2011. 82 out of the 89 members of the Crimean parliament voted in favor of Dzharty's appointment as Prime Minister. Dzharty simultaneously served as chairman of the Crimean branch of the Party of Regions.

Dzharty was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2010. He sought treatment for the disease in Ukraine, Germany and Russia. Dzharty died from lung cancer in Yalta on August 17, 2011, at the age of 53. He was interred at Kozatske cemetery in the city of Makiivka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on August 18, 2011. A memorial service was also held in Simferopol. On November 7, 2011 President Viktor Yanukovych appointed Anatolii Mohyliov as his successor as Prime Minister of Crimea.

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.