OREANDA-NEWS Russia and Ukraine will come to an agreement sooner or later, relations between the peoples will still be restored, although it will take a long time, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"It would be funny if it wasn't so sad. This endless mobilization in Ukraine, hysteria, internal problems, all this... Sooner or later we will come to an agreement anyway," he said in an interview with Tucker Carlson, which was published on the American journalist's website.

"And you know what? It may even sound strange in today's situation: relations between the peoples will be restored anyway. It will take a long time, but it will recover," Putin added.

The Russian leader said that Ukraine should repeal its decree prohibiting negotiations.

"Can they come back to this or not? This is the question: do they want to or not? And after that, Mr. President of Ukraine issued a decree prohibiting negotiations with us. Let him cancel this decree, and that's it. We have never refused to negotiate. We keep hearing: is Russia ready, is it ready? Yes, we did not refuse! They publicly refused. Well, let him cancel his decree and enter into negotiations. We have never refused," he said.