Vasily Ivanovich Berkov (Russian: Василий Иванович Берков) (Dutch: Wicher Berkhoff)[1] (21 August 1794 in Vriezenveen, Netherlands – 5 April 1870 in Saint Petersburg, Russia) was a Russian shipbuilder and from 1829 to 1870 Director of the Admiralty Shipyard of Saint Petersburg, possibly in the rank of Counter-Admiral.

He was one of the so-called Rusluie, a Dutch community in 18th and 19th century Saint Petersburg, most of whose members originated from Vriezenveen, Berkov's native town.

Berkov was the son of carpenter Albert Berends Berkhoff and Berendina van den Bosch, and left his native town at an early age for Saint Petersburg, where his grandparents Frederik van den Bosch and Clasina de Vries took him into their care.

In either 1815[5] or 1816[6] he successfully completed his six-year civilian apprenticeship program[7] at the College for Shipbuilding Architecture in Saint Petersburg as a shipwright.

After a brief career in 1825 as Master-Shipbuilder at Saint Petersburg's City Wharfs, in 1826 he accepted the position of Deputy Navy-Inspector for Innovative and Technological Requirements, at his former training college.

[14] Despite his career in Russian service, Berkov stayed in contact with the Dutch merchant community in Saint Petersburg.