Vyacheslav Dudka

{{Short description|Russian politician (born 1960)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Vyacheslav Dudka

| native_name = {{nobold|Вячеслав Дудка}}

| native_name_lang = ru

| image = Vyacheslav Dudka 2009 (cropped).jpg

| caption = Dudka in 2009

| order = 3rd

| office = Governor of Tula Oblast

| term_start = 29 April 2005

| term_end = 29 July 2011

| predecessor = Vasily Starodubtsev

| successor = Vladimir Gruzdev

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1960|4|23|df=y}}

| birth_place = Tula, RSFSR, Soviet Union

| party = United Russia (2007–2011){{cite web|url=https://www.interfax.ru/russia/205625|title=Дудка растерял товарищей|lang=ru|website=Interfax|date=30 August 2011}}

| allegiance = {{URS}}
{{RUS}}

| branch = GRAU

| serviceyears = 1982–1998

| rank = Colonel

}}

Vyacheslav Dmitriyevich Dudka ({{langx|ru|Вячеслав Дмитриевич Дудка}}; born 23 April 1960) is a Russian politician who served as the governor of Tula Oblast 2005–2011.

Vyacheslav Dudka was born in 1960 in Tula, Russia. In 1982 he graduated from the Tula high school of artillery engineers. From 1986 to 1998 Dudka served in the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of Soviet and then Russian army.

Since 2000 he was deputy general director of the KBP Instrument Design Bureau,{{cite web|url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/557352|title=Кто такой Вячеслав Дудка и что такое КБП|lang=ru|website=Kommersant|date=24 March 2005}} one of the top enterprises of Russia's defence industry. In 2003, Dudka became a part of "president's personnel reserve" and replaced communist governor Vasily Starodubtsev in April 2005.{{cite web|url=http://www.rg.ru/2005/03/31/tula-gubernator.html|script-title=ru:Губернатор от артиллерии|date=31 March 2005|work=Rossiyskaya Gazeta|language=Russian|accessdate=11 August 2010}} In 2010 Dudka was renominated for a second term by president Dmitry Medvedev.{{cite web|url=https://www.bfm.ru/news/48861|title=Тульские депутаты утвердили Дудку губернатором|lang=ru|website=bfm.ru|date=18 March 2010}}

On 29 July 2011 Dudka resigned from his post of the governor. Some sources connected his dismissal with the corruption scandal in which Dudka may be involved.{{cite web|url=http://www.1tv.ru/news/polit/181649|script-title=ru:Дмитрий Медведев досрочно прекратил полномочия губернатора Тульской области Вячеслава Дудки|date=29 July 2011|work=Channel One (Russia)|language=Russian|accessdate=}} Eventually, in 2013, Dudka was sentenced for 9.5 years of penal colony for bribetaking.[http://www.gazeta.ru/politics/2013/07/22_a_5496849.shtml "Взятка строгого режима: Бывший губернатор Тульской области Вячеслав Дудка приговорен к 9,5 года колонии"], gazeta.ru, July 22, 2013 He was granted parole in June 2018.{{cite web|url=https://www.interfax.ru/russia/616394|title=Экс-губернатор Тульской области Дудка вышел на свободу по УДО|lang=ru|website=Interfax|date=9 June 2018}}