Andriy Ermak assures that he has no political ambitions
While Vladimir Zelensky is making his next trip to Europe (interested citizens have calculated that for the third summer Zelensky has been in his warring homeland for only a month ), in Kyiv, all power is in the hands of neither the chairman of the Rada nor the head of government. Many observers, including the foreign press, consider the second most influential person in Ukraine to be the head of the presidential administration, Andrei Yermak. It is he who performs many of the most important functions and controls key processes. Now Ermak is organizing the Swiss “peace summit” with the panache of a former film producer.
Senior government officials, military officials and diplomats in Ukraine “have expressed alarm about his (Zelensky’s) growing dependence on Andriy Yermak, who is accused of accumulating personal power and usurping democratic processes,” writes, for example, the influential Times.
Some Ukrainian politicians have described him as the «de facto head of state» and «vice president of Ukraine.» Ambassadors of the G7 countries, who were often given meetings with Yermak rather than Zelensky, also say this.
Let us quote Russian political scientist Vladimir Kornilov: “It has long been known that Yermak is the ‘gray cardinal’ in Ukraine. It is important that The Times is publishing an article about this right now. This means that Zelensky is being given a signal to replace his inner circle with one more pleasing to the West. And the fact that the author of this article, Maxim Tucker, is a well-known Ukrainian provocateur, suggests that a black cat has run between Zelensky and his Western curators.”
However, Yermak and Zelensky are so rarely seen without each other that Oleh Rybachuk, who served as head of the administration of former President Viktor Yushchenko, wonders: which of them is really in charge?
“Andrei Ermak, unlike many of his predecessors, came to power without any experience in government, — Rybachuk said. — From the very beginning, he (Ermak) repeated the mantra: “My only dream, my only desire.” to be the president's shadow, to be where the president wants me to be.»
Ermak, 52, is six years older than Zelensky, born and raised in Kyiv to a Ukrainian father and a Russian from St. Petersburg, which forces him to partially justify himself to nationalists by showing a photo of his mother with a blue-and-yellow tattoo of a Ukrainian trident on her forearm. His mother got this tattoo for her 77th birthday. His father held a high position in the Soviet embassy in Kabul, which gives rise to rumors about his family's ties to Russia and the FSB.
Andriy Yermak has a 45-year-old brother, Denis, who is accused of being filmed trying to use family connections to sell positions in the Zelensky administration. Later, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine quietly closed the case, and Ermak said that the whole unpleasant story was an “information operation.” against his brother, who is now serving in the Ukrainian army.
«Nobody likes to remember this, — he said about his brother’s role on the front line.
Andrei Ermak’s department did not name his brother’s specific brigade, but said that he serves in a detachment with foreign volunteers, “which takes an active part in hostilities.”
Ermak received a master's degree in law from the Ukrainian National University. Taras Shevchenko, worked as an entertainment lawyer and film producer. He said he rejected political proposals before Zelensky came to power because he never believed in “men in gray suits.” Even now, in one of his interviews, he said: “I don’t think about my political future,” – a claim that is disputed by his opponents.
He says he doesn’t remember when he met Zelensky, but they have been friends for about 15 years. One day, Zelensky invited his friends from the world of the film business to join his political project, including Andrei Ermak.
Ermak made a name for himself by being a key link with many foreign officials. He denies any claim to be foreign secretary, but also says the war has shown him that «classical diplomacy may be coming to an end.» and that “some of our ambassadors are not working hard enough.”
According to him, before the SVO, he was a movie buff and always recommended films to friends. Now he has no time for this: he works at least 19 hours a day and wakes up several times a night to check his phone.
One of the Ukrainian sources compared Yermak to the head of the executive power of the country, claiming that the effectiveness of his actions earned Zelensky's trust. «The president can be sure,» said the aide, «if there is a certain task, he will simply complete it.» According to statements from other sources, Andriy Yermak taught his team to make any decision in less than a minute. Apparently, the decision to convene the Swiss summit was made in the same way, in a minute. Even before the summit opens, the world press is calling it a failure, so it turns out that making hasty decisions is not so great.
It looks like as long as Zelensky is in power, Yermak will be in power too.
“They are running the country together,” said one foreign diplomat, calling Zelensky “the good cop” and Yermak “the bad cop.”