Andriy Borysovych Yermak (; born 21 November 1971)
112 Ukraine (11 February 2020) is a Ukrainian politician and former film producer who has served as the Head of the

Office of the President of Ukraine The Office of the President of Ukraine (, ), formerly the ''Administration of the President of Ukraine'' ( ), is a standing advisory body set up by the President of Ukraine pursuant to clause 28, Article 106 of the Constitution of Ukraine. The ...

since 11 February 2020, after being appointed by

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...

.Zelensky dismisses head of president's office Bohdan, appoints Yermak instead

Interfax-Ukraine Interfax-Ukraine () is a Ukrainian news agency. Founded in 1992, the company publishes in Ukrainian, Russian, English and German. The company owns a 50-seat press centre. The staff of the agency is 105 people (as of the end of February 2022) ...

(11 February 2020) Yermak is also a member of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the highest command and control body for the

Armed Forces of Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

. He has been described as Zelenskyy’s right-hand man and a "real power broker" in Ukraine. In 2023, ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

'' called him Kyiv's "Green Cardinal." In 2024, ''Time'' named Yermak to their annual list of 100 most influential people in the world.

Biography

Andriy Yermak was born on 21 November 1971 in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, Ukraine (then part of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

). Yermak's Russian-born mother Maria met his Kyiv native father Borys on a school trip of a

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

school to Kyiv. Yermak's father is Jewish. They met through mutual acquaintances. The couple married in 1971 and she moved to Kyiv. Yermak has a brother Denys, who is eight years younger. In 1990, he started and in 1995 graduated from Kyiv's Taras Shevchenko National University's Institute of International Relations with a master's degree in international private law. The same year he received his license for law practice. In his second year of university, at the request of one of his teachers, he started working for the law company Proxen. He is also a member the Association of Lawyers of Ukraine. In 1997, Yermak founded the International Law Firm and was engaged in the field of intellectual property and commercial law. Between 2006 and 2014 he, in his profession as lawyer, aided

Party of Regions A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

MP Elbrus Tedeyev. In 2009, he founded and headed the public organization "Association of Entrepreneurs of the City of Kyiv". In the

2010 Ukrainian presidential election 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to s ...

, he was a proxy of candidate

Arseniy Yatsenyuk Arseniy Petrovych Yatsenyuk (born 22 May 1974) is a Ukrainian politician, economist and lawyer who served two terms as Prime Minister of Ukraine – from 27 February 2014 to 27 November 2014 and from 27 November 2014 to 14 April 2016. He was t ...

in Kyiv's 216th constituency. In 2011 he became the head of the ''“Association of Small Business Owners”.'' He founded the Garnet International Media Group in 2012 and is the producer of such films as ' and '' The Line''. He is a member of the Ukrainian Film Academy, and a member of the ''European Film Academy (2017).'' Yermak became acquainted with

in 2011, when Zelenskyy was the general producer of the TV channel Inter. The two became friends. He worked in Zelenskyy's election campaign team in the

2019 Ukrainian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Ukraine on 31 March 2019. As none of the 39 candidates on the ballot received an absolute majority of the initial vote, a runoff was held on 21 April between the top two vote-getters: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a t ...

. On 21 May 2019, newly elected President Zelenskyy appointed Yermak as Presidential Aide for Foreign Policy Issues. In this role he negotiated major prison exchanges with Russia during the

war in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

. He was the point of contact for Kurt Volker and

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani ( , ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and Disbarment, disbarred lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney ...

on behalf of Zelenskyy during the buildup of the Trump–Ukraine scandal. Yermak promised that, in response to their request, Zelensky would publicly pledge to investigate Burisma, a company that employed

Hunter Biden Robert Hunter Biden (born February4, 1970) is an American attorney and businessman. He is the second son of former president Joe Biden and his first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden was a founding board member of BHR Partners, a Chine ...

. However, Zelenskyy never made such a public statement. President Zelenskyy appointed Yermak as Head of the

on 11 February 2020. He became a member of the

National Security and Defense Council The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, ( NSDCU; , ''RNBOU'') or RNBO, is the coordinating state body of the executive power under the President of Ukraine on issues of national security and defense. It is a state agency tasked wi ...

the following day. As the Head of the President's Office, his duties are to provide administrative, legal, consultative, advisory, media, analytical and other assistance and support to the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

. Yermak was appointed chairman of the Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian and Social Affairs on 2 March 2022. In 2023, ''

'' called him Kyiv's "Green Cardinal." In 2024, ''Time'' named Yermak to their annual list of 100 most influential people in the world.

Personal life

Yermak has lived in

his whole life. He is single and has no children.

References

External links

* * * * –

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

, 12 February 2020 {{DEFAULTSORT:Yermak, Andrii 1971 births Living people Politicians from Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of International Relations alumni Independent politicians in Ukraine Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine Jewish Ukrainian politicians Ukrainian film producers 21st-century Ukrainian lawyers 21st-century Ukrainian politicians National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Ukrainian people of Russian descent

Biography

Personal life

See also

References

External links