ASTANA, July 4. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he doesn’t see a chance of concluding any agreements on Ukraine through a mediator.
"We are always in favor of negotiations, you know it well. We have never given up on them. The only question is that it seems unlikely to me to completely end the conflict with the help of mediators and only through them," the he said.
The president was responding to a question about Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's statement that it is possible to hold talks with Russia through mediators.
"First of all, it is because it is unlikely that a mediator will be empowered to sign final documents," Putin said.
Furthermore, the president doubted any mediator would be delegated enough powers to bring the matters to signing the final documents.
"The fundamental issue here is not only the competence of these mediators, but also their powers," he said. "Who can give the mediators the kind of power that would enable them to put an end to this standoff? I simply believe that this is unlikely."
But Putin noted that Russia "welcomes mediation as such," praising the performance of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during talks in Istanbul.