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Russia, Ukraine plan summit talks: officials

Other News Materials 15 September 2008 13:47 (UTC +04:00)

The presidents of Russia and Ukraine discussed the future of Russia's Black Sea Fleet and other sensitive issues Sunday by telephone and may hold summit talks before year's end, officials said.

In a statement, the Kremlin said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev talked with his Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yushchenko, and underscored concern over 'a whole range of problems in bilateral relations.'

Resolving them, the statement said, would require 'careful and constructive' work by experts from both countries 'without politicising existing disagreements., reported Forbes

'After these issues have been resolved, concrete timeframes for top-level meetings can be discussed,' the Kremlin statement said.

The Kremlin did not specify what issues the two leaders discussed.

But in Kiev, the Ukrainian presidency said in a statement that Medvedev and Yushchenko had talked about the contentious question of the future of Russia's Black Sea fleet and other thorny bilateral matters.

The statement said Yushchenko invited Medvedev to visit Ukraine for summit talks in November or December and said the invitation 'was accepted by the president of Russia.'

Tensions between the two ex-Soviet neighbours have soared again recently, notably over Russia's military intervention in Georgia and the movement of Black Sea Fleet warships -- based in Ukraine -- in connection with this.

On Saturday, Ukraine accused Russia of seeking to destabilise the ex-Soviet state, dismissing the idea it was in Moscow's special zone of interest and describing Kiev's EU and NATO ambitions as 'irreversible.'

The Russian Black Sea Fleet, founded by Catherine the Great, has been based in the Crimean port of Sevastopol since the 19th century. Under a pact signed in 1997, the fleet may continue to lease the base until 2017.

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