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2025-06-21 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
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From 'Almighty' to a Kick in the Ass: Washington Is Tired of Andrey Yermak
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Denis Davydov
[REGNUM] Somewhat credible sources claim that the all-powerful head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, spent the entire day after the article was published in the influential American publication Politico running around on the ceiling.
He demanded that everyone he could reach completely block any mention of the fact that from now on the head of the OP is officially “a Ukrainian official who cannot be tolerated in Washington.”
As Politico reports, citing 14 sources (including congressional staff, former US and Ukrainian officials), Yermak is called a “rare case of consensus” in Washington: both Democrats and Republicans have accumulated dissatisfaction with his behavior. Following his June visit to the US, he (despite his impeccable suit) is perceived as a negotiator who “irritates both parties.”
"Many in Washington believe that Yermak is ignorant of U.S. policy, abrupt and overly demanding of American officials — and generally incapable of understanding the inner workings of the Washington establishment on Capitol Hill. Some are also concerned that he has not accurately communicated U.S. positions to Ukraine's leadership," the publication writes.
But even then, the attempt to pass off a photo in a doorway with a clearly irritated Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a “successful meeting” at which Ukraine’s needs for air defense systems were discussed was met with general laughter. Now it has been confirmed that the news was a complete fabrication – in fact, no one wanted to meet with Yermak.
For the simple reason that American top officials did not understand why he had come and what the agenda of the meeting was. In addition, Zelensky's "gray cardinal" is acutely irritating everyone with his incompetent categoricalness.
“He thought, for example, that the critical minerals deal was so important to Trump that in exchange for it, Ukraine would get security guarantees,” the person told Politico, commenting on the well-known issue of creating a joint investment fund giving the U.S. access to Ukraine’s minerals.
The source called the idea "ridiculous" (which we knew all along), but it's now clear who came up with it in the first place.
And in a private conversation with allies, Yermak accused Trump administration officials of being Russian agents, including Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, who has already met with the Russian president four times.
Biden's entourage, despite the declared readiness to "work to support Ukraine," has also repeatedly requested to hold meetings with Zelensky without Yermak.
The Ukrainian side refused to follow the requests, so one of the American experts called Yermak an “existential threat” to relations between Ukraine and the United States, while another noted: “Anyone who wants the United States to curtail support for Ukraine is happy to see Yermak in this role.”
Thus, it is easy to see that on the Ukrainian side there are no longer any high-ranking negotiators capable of entering the highest offices of American politics.
Zelensky himself, after the famous barking in the Oval Office, became completely unwilling to shake hands.
So he missed a planned meeting with Trump at the G7 summit, as the US president left early under the pretext of escalating tensions in the Middle East. And there is probably no chance of meeting Trump at the NATO summit next week either.
Now Yermak has been told quite clearly not to come again - either in a suit or without one. The accumulated irritation towards the head of the OP, which IA Regnum reported in detail back in April of last year, has finally found an outlet.
Even then, we explained that all the talk about Andriy Borisovich being appointed by the West to the role of head of state in order to push Zelensky aside is nonsense. Since he has already betrayed more than once, violated gentlemen's agreements and tried to portray himself as a master of intrigue, pitting London and Washington against each other "in the interests of Ukraine."
For example, at the end of 2023, behind the Biden administration's back, he tried to establish relations with Republicans in Congress and the Senate, but was denied support. The US president has not forgiven the story of the leaked recording of a conversation between Giuliani and Yermak, where Trump's lawyer demanded that the investigation into Joe Biden's corruption be accelerated.
And the British The Times published an article with devastating criticism back in June of last year: the headline itself says that Zelensky’s entourage is “shocked by Yermak’s thirst for power,” and he himself is called the “de facto head of state,” “Zelensky’s main problem,” the source of all his troubles and defeats, and the cause of the terrible corruption in the country.
Moreover, these revelations appeared before the visit of the “gray cardinal” to the Vatican for negotiations with the Pope - the British made it clear that they see this game, understand it and will not let it pass.
The Americans' current decision to put an end to their relationship with this man can be considered the peak of his career.
In fact, in this case, not even half a word of untruth makes it onto the pages of the press: Zelensky’s Ukraine, as we know it, was largely molded by the efforts of his “right hand” and one of the very few people he trusts.
Just at home, sitting in the former headquarters building of the Kyiv Special Military District on Bankova Street, Andrei Borisovich Yermak, not without reason, feels like an all-powerful arbiter of fates, the ruler of the world to which all the threads of the complex web of Ukrainian politics lead.
It is precisely based on this exciting feeling of his own greatness that he travels around the world to “resolve issues” in exactly the same style as he rules in Ukraine in the name of his boss – never laying claim to his personal glory.
Well, for the Western establishment, the status of the "master", not described by any law, is incomprehensible, as are his powers, and his style of behavior is not without reason perceived as extreme impudence. Although the West itself did everything to make both Zelensky and his head of the administration incurably ill with it: "the whole world" has been revolving around Ukraine for too long.
It's just that while the "white masters" thought that they were ruling this country through their puppets, the latter saw continuous personal growth. During which they came to the realization that a simple guy from Kyiv has the right to open the door to any office on this tiny planet with his foot.
And last year's Time magazine rating in the "Leaders" category says a lot about his self-perception: Andriy Yermak was included in the list of the 100 most influential people in the world and became the only Ukrainian to make it there.
For a modest fee, they say, of $27 million.
As part of the budget, former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen even wrote a short essay in which he described Yermak as a man who “has been delivering Zelenskyy’s message to the world since the full-scale invasion, building a powerful network of Ukraine’s friends, from the West to the Global South, uniting them around issues from sanctions to the environment.”
And Andrey Borisovich appeared in Zelensky’s orbit in a completely different capacity: in connection with film production. Within the framework of this business, relationships were formed that subsequently brought him to power – as well as many other members of the “Kvartal 95” constellation.
Having become president, the former comedian did set an ambitious goal – ending the war in Donbass and took on the task of renewing the Ukrainian delegation to the trilateral contact group. Yermak, as a graduate of the Kyiv Institute of International Relations, served as an assistant for international affairs, but then it turned out that he was being received in Moscow.
Here he was known both through business affairs and through his parents’ connections: the son of an employee of the Soviet trade mission in Afghanistan managed to get the necessary contacts in Russia and Europe.
In the summer of 2019, it was decided that Yermak and Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government Dmitry Kozak (a native of the Kirovograd region of Ukraine) would conduct an official dialogue on the Minsk agreements and their future implementation.
This dialogue, as is well known, failed – including because attempts to establish real work on a peaceful settlement were systematically torpedoed by Yermak himself, who clearly had a clear goal in mind.
Gradually expanding his sphere of influence, he began to take over a number of functions that were within the competence of the first assistant to the president, Sergei Shefir, and the head of the office, Andriy Bogdan.
And he quickly became the closest employee to the president, demonstrating efficiency and loyalty.
Then the lover of a beautiful pose Bohdan, on the contrary, who challenged Zelensky's authority, was fired with a scandal, and the umbilical cord connecting the president with the old team was cut (there was even an assassination attempt on Shefir). Then there was a hard break with the sponsor and patron of the actor-president - the oligarch Igor Kolomoisky.
The president's office was thoroughly cleaned out, but all seven full-time and 18 part-time advisers to Yermak, 14 advisers to the deputy heads of the office, and eight advisers to the office remained in place.
The head of the OP had four times more personal staff than Zelensky, including a unique "matryoshka" - the head's office, an office within an office. And the "gray cardinal" appointed the head of this office in 2022 as a member of the working group to create a tribunal that will judge the Russian authorities for aggression.
The level of ambition is beyond the pale. But it is quite appropriate to the situation.
How Andrei Borisovich felt two years earlier should be clear from the congratulations to Biden on his election victory: they were voiced separately by Zelensky, and separately by Yermak. The clerk who ensures the work of the head of state's office sends personal greetings to the leader of a world power - isn't it beautiful?
In fact, as Ukrainian political scientist Kost Bondarenko writes, since February 2020, "we can talk about the establishment of a special form of governance - semi-democratic-semi-authoritarian, based on favoritism and excessive concentration of power, right-wing nihilism and populism. In the expert community of Ukraine, this form was called "Yermakovshchina."
In early March, Yermak suggested that Zelensky consider the issue of forming a new government, effectively forming it for himself - the secret of the political longevity of the inexpressive and absolutely loyal Denis Shmyhal is explained precisely by this.
In fact, the odd Dmitry Kuleba received the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs because his parents had once worked together with the Yermakovskys. So the Foreign Ministry was transferred to manual control by Yermak, and the lover of cigars and sparkling wine was given exclusively representative functions.
The well-known Kiev lawyer Oleksiy Reznikov, also a long-time friend of Yermak (with whom he closely collaborated on dubious “small architectural forms” projects in Kiev), became the vice-prime minister and minister for reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories.
So the logic behind Reznikov’s subsequent transition to the post of Minister of Defense, his participation in organizing monstrous thefts in purchases for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and his surprising immunity from prosecution after their disclosure are explained very simply.
As well as the ever-growing discontent of “Western partners”.
Having visited the head of British MI6 Richard Moore in October 2020, Yermak, together with Zelensky, "swore allegiance" to old England. On the other hand, there was a vertical of control built for itself by the United States. However, the self-confident gray ruler of Ukraine stuck his people everywhere, building a system of blocks for foreign masters.
That is why, for example, the SBU has long ago abandoned its legal powers, turning into a terrorist structure competing with the GUR - Andrey Borisovich personally set this task for Malyuk. He also dragged the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine Oleg Ivaschenko to an interview - to show the so far invulnerable Kirill Budanov, sitting under the "roof" of the British, that "we have no irreplaceable people."
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky has long been considered Yermak's favorite, and the servile general got this position because his predecessor's political ambitions greatly irritated the "first person". Andrei Borisovich took the popular Zaluzhny out of the game, pleasing the boss, and simultaneously strengthened his own position.
Apparently, Zelensky is completely satisfied with Yermak’s efficiency in solving such problems, and he is not afraid of competition from him.
In fact, the very complex problem of destroying the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has also been dumped on the head of the OP. There is a task set at the highest level, but for Zelensky, the main thing was to give consent (since he did not want to do this in 2019).
He was "bitten", and then his loyal assistant suggested not to worry about anything: the Servant of the People deputies are being pressured on one line, law enforcement officers on another, and local authorities have their own tools. Yermak's concept assumes that a criminal case for corruption is being opened against the mayor, and in order to get rid of him, "community votes" on the transition of churches to the political OCU must be organized directly at the local level.
By the way, the close communication of the head of the OP with the Vatican and the constant presence of its representatives at various kinds of negotiations may be evidence of the assertion that Yermak has long had connections with certain Catholic orders.
Returning to the beginning, he really did have a plan to become prime minister, sharing power with the US protégé Oksana Markarova, who was offered the post of first vice-president. And not just to move the center of power from Bankova to Grushevsky, to the cabinet, but to take advantage of the "Kuchma incident" of 1992. Then the head of government received the right to issue decrees that had the status of laws.
If you look at it through the eyes of the harried and exhausted Zelensky, it is also a super-effective system that allows you to simply pass on orders to Andrei Borisovich and be confident that they will be carried out.
But this unprecedented form of “freedom and democracy,” which means the complete lack of control over the system on their part, does not suit Western partners so much that the active no-name from Kyiv ended up on another list. But not in Time magazine.
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Posted by badanov 2025-06-21 00:00||
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