When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to the UN General Assembly last week, a man in olive green stood behind him, ARD writes. The tall "green cardinal", as some in Kiev call him, can always be seen in close proximity to the president during talks with state leaders or when he visits soldiers near the front. We are talking about Andriy Yermak - the shadow of Zelensky, who is already well-known in Ukraine and far beyond its borders.
More influential than the prime minister
According to journalist and observer of Ukrainian politics Denis Trubetskoy, no one in Ukraine can get much more power than Yermak has, ARD writes. There is no doubt that "Yermak is the second most powerful person in Ukraine". This assessment is shared not only by the independent Ukrainian press, but is also heard from within the presidential administration itself.
On the one hand, the Constitution does not provide such powers for the head of the presidential administration, and on the other - Yermak acts on behalf of the president. His political opponents see him as a power-hungry politician who wants to succeed the president. And for political scientist and blogger Mykola Davydyuk, Yermak wields enormous power - he is stronger than the prime minister and everyone else in the power structure, we read further in the ARD publication.
Appreciated by the president, but not very popular in the country
Nevertheless, Davydyuk points out that in a country where war is raging, greater chaos reigns in the presidential administration than in peacetime. This could justify the otherwise unusually high level of authority of its leadership. According to journalist Trubetskoy, Yermak and Zelensky often spend the night in the president's office. ”Yermak does not have a wife, he is always available and Zelensky appreciates this”, Trubetskoy explained to ARD. However, Yermak is not very popular in the country itself - despite having so much power.
Davydyuk recalls rumors circulating in Kiev that Prime Minister Denys Shmygal will be replaced so that Yermak can take office. Then he will have to take political responsibility for his decisions. After the end of the war, the issue will certainly be examined more carefully.
Like the president, Yermak, who is six years older, was not in politics before Zelensky was elected president in 2019. They had already worked together at that time - Yermak was a media lawyer and producer. Among the people Zelensky brought with him from his previous career was Yermak, now 52, who initially had no significant role - he mostly organized the president's calendar.
When Zelensky had been in office for nine months, in early 2020 he appointed Yermak as head of the presidential administration, ARD recalls. Since then, he has participated in all important foreign policy processes or even led them - such as negotiations with Ukraine's partners, the peace summit in Switzerland, the return of kidnapped Ukrainian children and the exchange of prisoners.
From foreign to personnel policy
In fact, observers believe that Yermak is performing the functions of foreign minister. "He is Zelensky's chief diplomat and the president listens to him on all personnel issues", Trubetskoy told ARD. Yermak is responsible for relations with the US and is closely linked to the White House. In July, it was he, not the foreign minister, who traveled to the US to discuss possible military targets in Russia and coordinate joint actions.
Yermak's original task of coordinating the president's calendar and providing access to him remains unchanged, as he and his team continue to determine who the president meets with. He therefore also controls who is close to the president and who is not, the German public-law media outlet explains. As a result, there are fewer and fewer people who have direct access to Zelensky, bypassing Yermak. There are almost no politicians in the government - "they are more like managers," says Trubetskoy. If a minister or official crosses Yermak's red lines, their political career is over, says a source to whom this has happened.
For example, if someone acts too independently or is too close to the president and is therefore beyond Yermak's control, he replaces these positions with his own people. The latest glaring example of this was Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who had to resign in early September. His successor, Andriy Sibiga, was previously one of Yermak's deputies in the presidential office. And the Minister of Reconstruction, Oleksiy Kuleba, who is responsible for particularly large budgets, was also previously deputy head of the presidential office. His superior there was Andriy Yermak.
Author: Isabel Shayani (ARD)