SOCHI, October 24. /TASS/. The situation in south-east Ukraine will be driven into a deadlock “if someone yields to the temptation of using force,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in the southern Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday.

Putin noted that there is still hope for peace in Ukraine. He stressed that Russia speaks for observing in full the Minsk agreements with all sides — militias and government forces.

“We don’t see the Ukrainian authorities’ desire to solve the problem with the help of political process,” Putin said.

Russia-Ukraine relations

Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes for normalization of Russian-Ukrainian relations. “I do hope for normalization of Russian-Ukrainian relations and their development. To my mind this is inevitable,” he said.

Putin remarked that Crimea’s unification with Russia last March by no means signified that Russia had no respect for the sovereignty of Ukraine.