At the peak of his fame as an actor and comedian, when he even hosted some New Year's Eve programs in Russia (those were different times), Volodimir Zelenski needed a good lawyer and representative to handle his contracts and copyright. A mutual friend introduced them in 2011, when Andrii Yermak was working on intellectual property cases and as a film producer.
Their bond stems from those days when they began collaborating on major audiovisual projects. When Zelenski won the elections against Poroshenko in 2019, he trusted Yermak with complicated diplomatic tasks, thanks to his contacts in Moscow, Brussels, or Washington, even though he did not have a specific position, eventually appointing him head of the Presidential Office a year later.
This position gave him total control over access to the president, coordination of internal and external policies, and relations with the Ukrainian Parliament. Even before the large-scale invasion, he led negotiations with the Kremlin to exchange prisoners of war from the Donbass conflict that began in 2014. Today, he represents Ukraine in talks with Russia.
Known as "the green cardinal," referring to his habit of staying in the shadows and the military uniform he adopted in times of war, just like his president and friend, he is as revered in Kiev as he is feared. His allies see him as the silent architect of Ukrainian diplomatic resistance, but critics define him as a symbol of excessive and opaque power in the presidency. While Zelenski travels and gives speeches, Yermak remains in Kiev, pulling strategic strings and ensuring that the government machinery does not stop. If the presidential advisor and narrative designer is Mijailo Podoliak, the executor is Yermak.
His name has been shouted in protests against the anti-corruption law by protesters who identify him as the true mastermind behind a law that seems designed to protect him and his circle from anti-fraud investigations. The reality is that since 2020, there have been allegations of corruption cases linked to his family clan. In March 2023, his brother Denys was the subject of an investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau for alleged irregular appointments in government positions, a case that was unexpectedly closed last December.
Additionally, several direct collaborators of Yermak, like the influential Oleg Tatarov, appointed as his deputy in 2020, faced accusations of bribes for urban planning permits, cases that according to internal sources were interrupted or redirected by political interventions from the presidential office.