VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 12 (Interfax) - Kiev has to cancel the order banning any negotiations so that the negotiating process with Ukraine could begin, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"You should ask him why he makes such statements, as I do not know. As for the negotiating process, if the United States believes Ukraine is ready for talks, let them cancel the Ukrainian president's order, which bans negotiations," Putin said at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum on Tuesday, in reply to a question on why U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had been making statements on Russia-Ukraine talks.
The Ukrainian president had issued the respective order, Putin said.
"He prohibited himself and everyone else from holding negotiations. Now Blinken says they are ready. Well, let them cancel this order, this decree, or whatever they call it. That's for starters, the first step," he said.
He did not rule out that Kiev would like to use the talks for stopping the hostilities and enhancing its combat capacities.
"There is an impression that they want, as their Western curators push them into, to bite off as much as possible, sorry for bad manners, to bite off whatever they can. Then, once they practically run out of resources, such as personnel, hardware and ammunition, they will seek to stop the hostilities and claim they have long been declaring the wish to negotiate. They will seek to begin negotiations, hoping to replenish resources and restore combat capacities of their armed forces," Putin said.
"Such tactics are possible. At least this is one of the options," he said.