Yakov Vasilyevich Sheko (Russian: Яков Васильевич Шеко; 1 April 1893 – 5 June 1938) was a Red Army Komdiv.

[1][2] After World War I began, Sheko was drafted into the Imperial Russian Army in late 1914, serving as a private in an automobile company stationed in Petrograd until September 1915.

Attaining membership of the Communist Party in January 1919, Sheko served as chief of the Sarny and Rovno combat sectors from February, before departing to study at the General Staff Academy in March.

Babel wrote in his entry for 14 August 1920 in 1920 Diary that Sheko ordered the killing of Polish prisoners of war, a policy condoned by division commander Iosif Apanasenko.

[1][2] Sheko's service in satellite Mongolia was part of a regular rotation of Soviet commanders who served as chief of staff, supervising the modernization and expansion of the Mongolian army.

Upon his return to the Soviet Union, Sheko became commander and commissar of the 10th Terek-Stavropol Cossack Territorial Cavalry Division, stationed in the North Caucasus Military District, in January 1936.

As a result of vacancies created by the arrest of higher-ranking officers during the Great Purge, he succeeded to the command of the 4th Cossack Cavalry Corps in April 1937, serving simultaneously as its commissar until May.