 From 1957 to 1972 Derkach worked at the Soviet Rocket giant Yuzhmash in Dnipropetrovsk (today Dnipro).From March of 1972 to December of 1992 he worked for the Ukrainian SSR's branch of the KGB (in 1992 became Security Service of Ukraine) in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.Derkach was fired in 2001 for his alleged involvement in the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.