Vitaly Vasilyevich Fedorchuk (; ; 27 December 1918 – 29 February 2008) was a Soviet security and intelligence officer and politician who served as Chairman of the Committee for State Security of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1970 to 1982 and then Minister of Internal Affairs from 1982 to 1986.
Early life and education
Born in 1918 to a poor Ukrainian peasant family in the village of Ogievka, located in the Zhitomir region of Ukraine,
He was called up for military service in 1936 and graduated from the Military Signals and Communications School in Kyiv. In 1967, he was appointed Director of the Third Directorate (military counterintelligence) of the KGB where he served until 1970. When he was appointed, many KGB officials did not have uniforms, and wore civilian clothes at work. Fedorchuk ruled that they must all have three uniforms: one for everyday, one for work outside the office, and one for parades and festivals.
He then became the Soviet Interior Minister in December 1982, replacing Brezhnev's man Nikolai Shchelokov, who had been dismissed on corruption charges as part of Andropov's purge of his predecessor's associates. His term ended in January 1986 (Mikhail Gorbachev had him replaced due to his opposition to the policies of the new Soviet leadership) and he was succeeded by Alexander V. Vlasov. After leaving the Interior Ministry, Fedorchuk became an Inspector at the Ministry of Defense, a largely honorary post, and then, he retired. His body was buried at Moscow's Troyekurovskoye Cemetery.