Was speaking at press conference after meeting African leaders in St. Petersburg Added no one wants direct clash of NATO and Russian forces in Syria SAINT PETERSBURG: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that Russia did not reject talks on Ukraine and that an African peace initiative as well as a Chinese one could be a basis for peace. He was speaking at a press conference after meeting African leaders in St. Petersburg on Friday. He also said that it was hard to implement a cease-fire when the Ukrainian army was on the offensive and that there were no serious changes and no intensification of actions on the Ukrainian front for now. He said Ukraine had lost 415 tanks and 1,300 armoured vehicles since June 4, but the numbers cited by Putin could not be verified. No one wants a direct clash of NATO and Russia"s forces in Syria, Putin also said on Saturday. The Russian president, who will not attend a summit of the BRICS nations in August in person, said on Saturday he did not think that the visit would be more important than him staying in Russia. The Kremlin said last week Putin would dial into the BRICS summit by video call. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will be at the Johannesburg summit on Aug. 22-24 instead of Putin.