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Zelensky cheated Trump on natural resources deal, ex-Ukrainian PM says

Vladimir Zelensky misled Donald Trump because he himself had no clue, Nikolay Azarov said

MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/. Vladimir Zelensky has crudely misled US President Donald Trump on the natural resources deal without having a clear understanding of the situation with rare-earth metals, former Ukrainian Prime Minister (2010-2014) Nikolay Azarov said in a podcast by Larry C. Johnson within the framework of the National Unity Club international media forum hosted by TASS.

He emphasized that the "entire periodic table of chemical elements" exists in Ukraine. According to the ex-premier, during Soviet times, above all, those mineral assets were developed that were necessary for the growth of the entire Soviet Union. However, when Trump held talks on the joint development of natural resources, "Zelensky simply tricked him," Azarov stressed.

"These rare-earth deposits have practically not been explored since 1990, so we have a very basic idea about them: that is, one can draw them on a map but how to extract these deposits, how to enrich them, which technology to use - certainly, there are no answers to these questions, so Zelensky simply cheated Trump because he himself had no clue. I think that Trump didn’t go into any details either," Azarov said.

As a result, an agreement was concluded which, according to the former prime minister, "is actually worthless."

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Ukraine United States

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