ASTANA. July 4 (Interfax) - It is unlikely that the Ukraine conflict will be ended through mediation efforts only, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, adding that Russia welcomes mediation for the conflict's settlement.
"We have always been up to talks. We have never rejected them. The only question is that [the prospect of] actually putting an end to the conflict with the help of mediators and through them only seems to me unlikely," Putin told reporters on Thursday.
A mediator will unlikely be vested with powers to sign a final act or even to lead to the signing of a final document, he said.
"Fundamentally important is not only the question of these mediators' scope of competence, but also that of their powers. Who can give a mediator such powers as to draw a bottom line and put an end to this confrontation? I just think this is an unlikely event. But mediation per se, like the things that Mr. Erdogan did during our negotiations in Istanbul, is something that we are welcoming," Putin said.