Andriy Yermak. Ever heard of him? Last year one Politico survey called him the 4th most powerful man in Europe. This year he was bumped up to 2nd.
Time Magazine ascribed him similar super-powerbroker status, even more than his boss. And his boss, it should be noted, is Volodymyr Zelensky.
And, one week away from the fourth anniversary of Russia’s shock invasion of Ukraine, as Donald Trump has the liberal hand-wringers of the West clutching their collective pearls with his threat to Ukraine funding and an enforced peace deal, many eyes in that country are looking to Yermak as half the problem.
He is seen, for example, as the real pressure behind Zelensky imposing shock sanctions on his bitter political rival, and former President, Petro Poroshenko last weekend.
He is also seen by many Ukranians as a bad lot. Many observers fear money intended for weapons or governance is being siphoned off internally – which is at least partly why Trump is set to turn the taps off on the $300bn so far sent to Ukraine and imposing draconian measures to claw it back.
Observers have also commented that the now infamous Trump-Putin phone call and demands on Ukraine’s mineral wealth really have hastened the end of the war… and with it there will necessarily be fresh elections which, on current polls, Zelensky would be unlikely to win.
War, it seems, is a dirty business whichever side you are on.
Lawyer turned enforcer Yermak, 52, is Zelensky’s fixer – the man he gets to do his dirty work so the TV star president can remain as unsullied as possible by the grim trappings of war. And many don’t think he’s the power behind the throne, they just think he’s the power. Indeed his nickname in Ukraine is “the babysitter”.
Rank-and-file Ukranians don’t seem to trust Yermak as far as they could throw him. Indeed – they think he uses his position as Zelensky’s Chief of Staff (and his influence with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine) to exert political influence and neutralise Zelensky’s political opponents.
Indeed, they accuse the anti-corruption champion, in classic Soviet style, of corruption.
Many even accuse him of enabling the creation of an oligarchy – on precisely the same lines as the Russian steal-the-nation’s-assets model.
And yes I know it all whiffs a little bit of Russian disinformation and St Petersburg bot-factory, but the allegations are all made by stand-up Ukrainian media. And there is no doubt Zelensky, who has already been in power one year longer than statute allows because of “wartime circumstances”, does seem to have a dwindling number of opponents to face when elections are finally called.
Yermak is also renowned as a master of using “black propaganda” to neutralize perceived rivals. One story recounts the fate of the YouTube star Oleksiy Arestovych who would daily tell Ukrainians they would prevail, making himself more popular than Zelensky in the process.
From no-where reports started circulating he was a Russian agent. He wasn’t – but the damage was done, damage he blames on his one-time boss Yermak.
Elsewhere Andriy Kobolyev, former CEO of state-owned energy company Naftogaz, was prosecuted for receiving a bonus after winning a multi-billion-dollar arbitration case against Gazprom and Andrei Pivovarsky, former Minister of Infrastructure, was charged with depriving the state of $30 million for deregulating ports, despite no evidence of personal financial gain.
It remains to be seen just what Trump will do, but more cash seems extremely unlikely – at least without massive concessions on mineral wealth.
The US Government Accountability Office has expressed serious concern not enough is being done to manage fraud and accountability of the massive monies USAID pays for direct budget support for Ukraine’s government, largely to reimburse the government for eligible expenses, such as salaries for teachers, civil servants, and healthcare workers.
And the “bad-lot” rumours around Yermak are not helping.
Nor, one might conclude are they helping Zelensky, it would seem.
A recent survey said 40 percent or Ukrainians no longer trusted the 46-year-old leader – up from just seven percent in earlier surveys.
The next few days and weeks will be some of the most critical in Ukraine’s history. It is just as critical Zelensky, and his appointees, are as open, transparent and “clean” as they can be.
We shall see.