Zelenskyy's untouchable aide falls: What Yermak's dismissal means and who may head Presidential Office

Ali-Baba and the Mindich case

For nearly two weeks, rumors circulated in Ukraine's media space that Andriy Yermak might be implicated in the "NABU uncovered a corruption scheme involving kickbacks at Energoatom and money laundering with the participation of Timur Mindich, a long-time friend of the president and co-owner of Kvartal 95 film studio.Mindich case."

The morning of November 28 exploded with news of searches at Yermak's home, and for part of the political establishment, it sounded like a death knell for the head of the Presidential Office. However, Ukrainian media, citing sources, reported that after the searches, Yermak was not charged — at least not yet.

ZN.UA wrote that charges are now being prepared at NABU and may concern the scandalous cottage cooperative "Dynasty" — in the summer, investigative journalists from Bihus.Info revealed the construction of these four mansions in Kozyn outside Kyiv. During the full-scale invasion, they were allegedly being built by people connected to then-Deputy Prime Minister Chernyshov is currently a suspect in the Mindich case. According to investigators, he used the services of a "laundromat" — a so-called back office through which dealers legalized the funds they had obtained.Oleksiy Chernyshov.

Ukrainska Pravda suggests that the "Mindich case" and the "Dynasty" case may be linked: the construction of the mansions in Kozyn may have been financed by the very "shadow fund" filled from embezzlement in Ukraine's energy sector.

But what does Yermak have to do with it? On November 17, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak, who actively shares his "insider info" on the "Mindich case," stated that Andriy Yermak also appears on NABU wiretaps under the nickname Ali-Baba (based on the initials A.B., i.e., Andriy Borysovych). At the same time, no recordings featuring Ali-Baba have been made public yet.

According to Zheleznyak, Yermak may be connected to the Mindich case figures through the Dynasty cooperative — one of the houses there may be linked to him.

There is no official confirmation of this. Head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau Semen Kryvonos limited himself to a brief comment: "Who owns the mansions — that is for the detective team to establish, to determine the source of the funds and all transactions."

Law enforcement officials have not officially commented on who Ali-Baba is, but head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office Oleksandr Klymenko did reveal something about this figure: "Ali-Baba holds meetings and assigns tasks to law enforcement agencies to persecute and continue persecuting NABU detectives and SAPO prosecutors. This is an abnormal situation."

According to Klymenko, Ali-Baba continued holding meetings with law enforcement up until recently.

Law enforcement provided no further details to avoid harming the investigation. Now, all that is left is to wait for further action from the anti-corruption agencies.

"Burn the whole office down"

The corruption scandal in the energy sector involving people close to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy erupted at the most inopportune time for Ukraine. Sensing weakness, the U.S. returned to pressuring Kyiv to agree to a capitulation plan. And after the "Mindich case" flooded the pages of world publications, Zelenskyy bitterly stated that "the president of a country at war cannot have friends."

Distancing himself from longtime associate Tymur Mindich — and now Andriy Yermak — Zelenskyy seems ready for radical steps. In an address to the nation, he announced a reboot of the entire Office of the President so that "no one can question Ukraine."

This is what members of Zelenskyy's political force have been calling for as well. Several Servant of the People lawmakers say the entire governance system needs a reboot.

"Everyone is butting heads with Yermak. But do you understand that the entire Office needs rebooting? This is the system of the entire government. I believe that in this situation, large-scale personnel rotations are needed," says MP Mykyta Poturaev.

It was he who, amid the "Mindichgate," began collecting signatures for a statement on the need to form a new coalition and government — though so far without success.

To date, Yermak has been head of Ukraine's negotiating group, but in Poturaev's view, negative consequences for the talks would arise if Yermak stayed.

"The decision is difficult not only for [Zelenskyy] personally, but because it was an international negotiation process. So [the decision to dismiss him was made] so there would be no grounds to think that any member of the delegation, starting with Yermak, has taken any steps that weakened our position or our national interests," Poturaev says.

Servant of the People MP Bohdan Yaremenko believes Yermak became "a figure impossible to save." But the issue is not just him.

"To somehow restore trust in himself, the president must incinerate his Office. Not even the cleaners or guards should remain. Everyone must be newly hired. Just to try to restore trust. That is obvious. Even decent people need to be kicked out. Just so no trace remains of what was happening there," says MP Bohdan Yaremenko.

Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy Anastasia Radina welcomed the decision on Yermak's dismissal and reminded that "it would be fair to finally release the hostages: NABU detective Ruslan Mahamedrasulov, who documented the figures in the 'Midas' operation, and his elderly father."

Poland's Minister of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, commenting on the searches at Yermak's, noted that Ukraine is going through a difficult period, and "the issue of possible corruption at the highest levels of government complicates the current peace talks."

Meanwhile, the European Commission is closely monitoring the investigation by Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies and says it "has a lot of respect for them." "The fact that such investigations take place demonstrates that anti-corruption bodies are active and have the mandate to work in Ukraine. I want to emphasize: the fight against corruption is a key element for the country to join the EU," said European Commission spokesman Guillaume Mercier.

Who, if not Yermak?

For the past five years, it has been hard to see Volodymyr Zelenskyy without Yermak by his side. On working trips, at negotiations and meetings — inseparable. The FT wrote that they even sleep next to each other in a bunker, and after the workday "play table tennis or watch movies." Finding a replacement for Yermak will clearly be no easy task for the president.

Ukrainian economist and president of the Kyiv School of Economics Tymofiy Mylovanov suggests that the Office of the President may be headed by Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.

European Solidarity MP Oleksii Honcharenko claims that Svyrydenko will remain prime minister, and the position of chief of staff may be filled by First Deputy Prime Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

According to DeepState sources, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Pavlo Palisa is also among the candidates.

"A military person in wartime is a logical and necessary presence in the Office," DeepState wrote.

Last week, our source in Servant of the People said the position of chief of staff was offered to Oksana Markarova — former ambassador to the U.S., though she herself denied such information.

Golos faction MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak adds to all the above-mentioned candidates for the post of head of the Office: head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense Kyrylo Budanov and Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal.

However, all "leaks" about who will be appointed chief of staff are just assumptions, since no decision has been made yet. Zelenskyy stated that on Saturday, November 29, he was to hold consultations with candidates for the position of head of the Presidential Office.

It is also currently unknown who will head the negotiating group. After the news of Yermak's dismissal, Zelenskyy noted only that the negotiators will include Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Andriy Hnatov, representatives from the Foreign Ministry and intelligence, as well as Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Rustem Umerov.

According to the president, delegations from Ukraine and the U.S. will meet by the end of this week to continue aligning points of the peace plan "to such a form that will lead to the road to peace and security guarantees."

Bonus section in case you missed where Yermak came from

Before heading the Office of the President in 2020, Yermak was not particularly visible in politics. Until 2019, he spent more than 20 years in legal practice. In addition, a few years before starting his political career, Yermak got into filmmaking and even produced several films himself: The Rule of the Fight and The Border.

"As a lawyer, I worked quite a lot in the television and film industry, with many TV channels, production companies, and majors [...] Working with these people is a great joy and tremendous experience," Yermak said in one interview.

And indeed, work in that field greatly influenced his later career. One of his clients was the Inter TV channel, and it was there that Yermak met its general producer. At the time, that position was held by Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The position in the Presidential Office is not Yermak's debut in politics. For three convocations of the Verkhovna Rada — from the V to the VII — he worked as an unpaid aide to lawmaker from the Party of Regions Elbrus Tedeyev. Though for some reason this life milestone is not mentioned in his official biography.

In 2019 Yermak joined Volodymyr Zelenskyy's pre-election headquarters. After the victory, he became a presidential aide and handled foreign policy. That same year he was included in the National Investment Council and the supervisory board of the state defense conglomerate Ukroboronprom.

In February 2020, Zelenskyy dismissed his first chief of staff, Andriy Bohdan, and admitted that there are conflicts in his team that "are hindering work." That is how Yermak came to head the Office.

But not even a month after the appointment, he began accumulating scandals. First, MP Geo Leros publicized video recordings allegedly showing Yermak's brother negotiating employment in government bodies and demanding significant sums for it.

Already in 2021, the Bellingcat investigative project published an investigation into the Ukrainian special services' operation to detain mercenaries from the Wagner private military company, which ended in failure. The investigators claim that it was Yermak who suggested postponing the detention of the mercenaries, which led to the operation's collapse. Zelenskyy denied the allegations that Andriy Yermak might have postponed the operation: "What could Yermak have approved regarding the operation? He has no authority."

From the start of the full-scale war, Yermak continued handling foreign policy directions. International visits with the president, direct negotiations with the U.S. administration, and the process of returning children abducted by Russia.

But over time, lawmakers began complaining more and more that Yermak's influence extended not only to foreign policy but also to domestic affairs.

European Solidarity MP Volodymyr Aryev noted in a comment to hromadske that the government system had turned into an "office-presidential" one.