BEIJING, October 18. /TASS/. Peace talks on Ukraine can only begin when Kiev lifts its ban on such negotiations, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"If Ukraine really wants to engage in the negotiation process, there is no need to grandstand; the first thing to do is to revoke the Ukrainian president’s decree banning talks," he told reporters following a visit to China where he took part in the Belt and Road forum.
The Russian president held a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Beijing on October 17. The Hungarian premier said later that Putin’s response to his question about a potential ceasefire in Ukraine "was not encouraging, to put it mildly."
"I don’t think that he (Orban - TASS) lacks in optimism," the Russian head of state said, commenting on his meeting with the Hungarian prime minister. "However, my position on that part of our conversation is well known; there is no secret here. When asked if there were any prospects for a peaceful solution, I repeated what I had already said many times before," Putin noted.
"We hear chatter that they (the Ukrainians - TASS) seem to be willing to engage in some kind of talks, and even officials in charge of certain foreign policy areas who used to talk about the need to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield have now changed their tune, calling for resolving these issues through peace talks," Putin emphasized. "This is a change for the better, taking us in the right direction. This is something [top EU diplomat Josep] Borrell is already talking about. He deserves praise for that. However, this is not enough. Specific steps need to be taken if there is a real desire to negotiate," the Russian leader concluded.