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Russian foreign minister tells DW journalist not to believe Ukrainian officials

Responding to a question about why Moscow prefers a phone call between the president and Vladimir Zelensky to a "face-to-face meeting," Sergey Lavrov said that Vladimir Putin had repeatedly expressed his readiness to meet with Zelensky in Moscow

ATLANTA /United States/, October 31. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a journalist from German media company Deutsche Welle (DW, designated in Russia as a foreign agent and an undesirable organization) that statements by Ukrainian officials should not be believed.

At a news conference following the first day of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta, the Deutsche Welle journalist asked why Moscow prefers a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky to a "face-to-face meeting," prompting Lavrov to express surprise.

The Russian foreign minister then asked where the journalist had obtained this information. The journalist replied that it had been "stated by Ukrainian officials."

"Oh, don’t believe them," Lavrov said, once again recalling that Putin had repeatedly expressed his readiness to meet with Zelensky in Moscow.

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Foreign policy Ukraine Sergey Lavrov

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