VLADIVOSTOK, September 12. /TASS/. Russia can’t stop hostilities if it’s repelling an enemy counteroffensive, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the Eastern Economic Forum.

"From many sides, the people we talk to, who are mediating or would like to mediate, say to me, ‘Are you ready to cease hostilities?’ But how can we cease hostilities if the other side is conducting a counteroffensive? What are we supposed to do? They will counterattack, and we will say, 'And we are standing down.' We are not Trotskyists: 'Movement is everything, the final goal is nothing.' That's a bad theory," he said during a question-and-answer session at the EEF.

The president said that in order to start a peace process, the Kiev regime should first lift the legislative ban on negotiations. Kiev officials should also "state that they are ready for it. That's it! And then we'll see," Putin said.