Andriy Yermak, former head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office (OP), had firmly resisted efforts to impose sanctions on Aleksandr Lukashenko since 2022. Their introduction was only possible after Yermak’s departure. A day before the Ukrainian president signed the Decree on the Application of Personal Special Economic and Other Restrictive Measures (Sanctions), a senior Ukrainian official disclosed this information to a BIC journalist on condition of anonymity.
“He has always opposed sanctions”
On February 18, 2026, Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the imposition of sanctions against Aleksandr Lukashenko for “facilitating the murders of Ukrainians” in a post on his Telegram channel. The corresponding decree was published on the same day on the President of Ukraine’s website. According to a BIC source, Zelenskyy’s Office discussed initiating sanctions against Lukashenko as early as the start of the invasion, but Andriy Yermak, the head of the OP at the time, firmly opposed them.
“In 2022, I remember we discussed it. At the time, it was viewed as a kind of political maneuver — so that he [Lukashenko — ed. note] would not be pushed completely into Russia’s embrace and would stop allowing troops to pass through Belarus. Andriy [Yermak] has always opposed sanctions against Belarus. Now, I don’t think anyone is as outspoken against them anymore,” the source said.
In accordance with Article 5 of Ukraine’s Law on Sanctions, the National Security and Defense Council is responsible for considering proposals to impose, lift, or amend sanctions, based on proposals from the Verkhovna Rada, the President, the Cabinet of Ministers, the National Bank, or the Security Service. In late January 2026, a BIC journalist sent inquiries to the OP, the Security Service of Ukraine, and the National Bank, asking why they had not yet imposed sanctions on Aleksandr Lukashenko.
The Presidential Office did not respond. The National Bank announced the signing of the decree on the same day the sanctions were introduced. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) informed that “the disclosure of restricted information concerning the activities of the security service may undermine efforts to prevent threats to Ukraine’s national security.”
“Ukraine should respond”
On February 17, the same high-ranking Ukrainian official speaking on condition of anonymity said that the BIC journalist’s request to the Presidential Office regarding the absence of sanctions against Aleksandr Lukashenko “really caught interest.”
Ihor Kyzym, the former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Belarus and former Ambassador-at-Large for Belarus at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, expressed a different opinion in his comment to BIC. He believes that Andriy Yermak’s resignation did not influence the Office of the President’s position, but rather that it was due to a change in OP policy.
“I don’t think Yermak played a central role in this matter,” Kyzym said. “There are new indications of his [Aleksandr Lukashenko’s — ed. note] involvement in the aggression, including the fact that the passage of Russian drones is controlled from his territory. In other words, they continue to facilitate Russia’s aggression. I suppose, for every adversarial step taken against Ukraine, Ukraine should respond.”
Who is Andriy Yermak
Andriy Yermak is a former movie producer. In February 2020, Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed him to lead the Presidential Office. Yermak previously worked as an aide to the president of Ukraine. He held this position when Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Aleksandr Lukashenko met for the first and only time, in October 2019, in the Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr.
Yermak left his position as head of the OP in November 2025 amid a political scandal over corruption in the Ukrainian energy sector. The release of audio recordings by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau sparked this scandal. The recordings feature members of an organized group mentioning a man nicknamed “Ali Baba.” According to Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak, this person is Andriy Yermak.
After Yermak’s resignation, Zelenskyy held his first bilateral meeting with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, a leader of the Belarusian opposition, on January 25, 2026. The now ex-head of the OP had previously opposed such interactions.
BIC journalists asked Andriy Yermak for a comment. At the time of publication, we had not received a response.
