"I'm Satisfied with the President": Avakov Describes How Zelensky "Snapped" at Lavrov and How Surkov's "Nerves Gave Way"

"That's not what we agreed to."

During the meeting of Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin, held together with the Ukrainian and Russian delegations, the Ukrainian president "snapped" at Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, asking him to "stop nodding his head." Interior Minister Arsen Avakov described the details of the negotiation process to journalist Dmitry Gordon in Paris.

According to Avakov, at one point Zelensky turned to Lavrov and said: "Don't keep nodding your head as if you know everything. Unlike you, I walked the entire border on my own two feet."

Avakov also confirmed the conflict at the meeting between Ukrainian presidential aides Andriy Yermak and Russian presidential aide Vladislav Surkov. According to the minister, Vladislav Surkov's "nerves gave way."

Arsen Avakov
Interior Minister of Ukraine

His [Surkov's] nerves gave way. He lost it, threw the papers on the table, or part of them fell to the floor. Like, "That's not what we agreed to." Because they proposed to disengage, to keep playing this "little game," to disengage along the border. Where to disengage? In Marinka, where every meter is soaked in blood? In Shyrokyne, where we got so that they would not shell Mariupol with hail of fire? In Avdiivka? What nonsense is this?

A video of the conversation with the interior minister appeared on the journalist's YouTube channel.