Yermak-McFaul Group

About the Yermak-McFaul International Working Group on Russian Sanctions

Sanctions Group is an international working Group of independent experts on sanctions against Russia.

The purpose of the sanctions Group is to provide a comprehensive list of possible additional economic and political measures to strengthen US, European and global sanctions against Russia and Belarus in order to end Russia’s war against Ukraine as soon as possible.

The Group was created at the initiative of the President of Ukraine. The Group is co-chaired by the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, and the former US ambassador to Russia, Stanford University professor Michael McFaul.

Group members

More than 100 experts operate in the working Group, most of whom represent the USA and Ukraine. Analytical materials for the Group are provided by KSE Institute, Institute for International Finance, Yale School of Management, as well as the Economists for Ukraine association.

​​The working group includes independent international experts, such as:

• Michael Anthony McFaul, an American academic and diplomat, Director at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies in the Department of Political Science, and the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.
• Anders Åslund, a Swedish economist and diplomat, leading international expert on national economies of Ukraine, Russia and the countries of the former USSR;
• William Taylor, former US ambassador to Ukraine; 
• Larry Diamond, American political sociologist;
• Francis Fukuyama, American philosopher, political economist and publicist ;
• Christopher Miller, an American retired United States Army Special Forces colonel who served as acting United States secretary of defense from November 9, 2020, to January 20, 2021, and others.

Ukraine is presented by:

• Oleksii Makeev,  Special Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on sanctions policy;
• Yury Vitrenko, General Director of Naftogaz of Ukraine;
• Andriy Pishniy, former head of Oschadbank, and others.

Kyiv School of Economics is presented by:

• Tymofiy Mylovanov, KSE President, Associate Professor of the University of Pittsburgh, Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine (2019-2020);
• Natalija Shapoval, Head of KSE Institute, Vice President for Economic and Policy Research at KSE;
• Tymofii Brik, Rector at the KSE University, Head of Sociological Research at KSE, Vice President for International Relations;
• Oleksandr Lysenko, corporate governance expert at KSE;
• Andriy Boytsun, corporate governance expert at KSE.

KSE Graduates also took part in the development of the sanctions package: Yurii Gorodnichenko, a member of the KSE International Academic Board, professor at University of California, Berkeley, and Ilona Sologoub, Director of Political and Economic Research at Kyiv School of Economics, Scientific Editor at VoxUkraine.

The Group also includes two secretaries: Vladyslav Vlasyuk from the Ukrainian side and Bronte Cass from the US side.

Progress in the implementation of the Action plan on strengthening sanctions against the RF:

On behalf of the Government and the Office of the President of Ukraine, the KSE Institute also monitors the implementation of sanctions, analyzes their effectiveness, and prepares other analytical documents regarding the need to introduce new restrictions against the Russian economy.

Currently, the progress of the implementation of the Plan is 70%. Meaning more than half of the plan’s measures have been partially or fully implemented.

Plans for the future:

Currently, the Group is working on several priority sanctions, the analysis of which will be released in the form of position papers in September:

1. Report on the effectiveness of sanctions and a plan for next steps;
2. Roadmap regarding the declaration of Russia as a State Sponsor of Terrorism;
3. Roadmap for technological sanctions;
4. Position paper on confiscation of Russian assets;
5. A roadmap for reducing opportunities for the Russian Federation to circumvent sanctions.

Group’s products:

The Sanctions Group is developing a list of documents, strategies and roadmaps that contain plans and recommendations for the implementation of sanctions against Russia and Belarus, as well as monitoring their effectiveness.

More about the Group’s activities – here.