Maria Zakharova, official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. File photoMOSCOW, Mar 6Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's interpretation of his conversation by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in 2019 in New York «monstrous nonsense.» Zakharova responded that, According to Zelensky, Lavrov approached him in line at a meeting with US President Donald Trump and they discussed Russian-Ukrainian relations. Zakharova added that Zelensky noted that Lavrov allegedly «immediately picked up the phone and called some Russian television or radio station» and said that he had spoken with the President of Ukraine, and he was «ready to accept all our conditions.» Zelensky violated the Minsk agreements, Lavrov said, as the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry explained, in fact, in September 2019, in New York, the heads of state and foreign ministers gathered for the «political week» of the UN General Assembly, where on the opening day of the debate, the US President hosts a reception for the heads of delegations. «As it should be according to the protocol, guests arrive in the evening and stand in a kind of queue to greet the host. Then it was Donald Trump. It was in this queue that Sergei Lavrov exchanged a couple of phrases with a newcomer to Ukrainian politics, Vladimir Zelensky,» — Zakharova wrote in her Telegram channel. «Never in my life, neither before nor after the meeting with Zelensky, did Sergei Lavrov call any television or other media to tell something on the air. This is some kind of monstrous nonsense,” she noted. Zakharova also wrote that the next day, in response to a journalist’s request for a detailed commentary, Sergey Lavrov limited himself to the phrase that “these were not negotiations, it was a conversation» and the parties discussed «where we are, both sides expressed interest in resolving the situation in the Donbass in accordance with the Minsk agreements.» «Now re-read the story invented by Zelensky again and compare with the real quotes that I gave . By the way, they are all on the Internet. And so it is in everything from year to year with all representatives of the «Kyiv regime,» Zakharova emphasized. and Russia
