Russia and Ukraine are ready to continue working together to sort out all remaining legal issues regulating the deployment of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine, Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov said.
"The sides have no disagreements regarding the need to discuss and to resolve these issues," Denisov said in the lower chamber of Russia’s parliament on Tuesday.
Moscow and Kyiv had earlier created a Black Sea Fleet working group, which is co-headed by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin and Ukrainian First Deputy Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandohiy, he said.
Russian-Ukrainian relations have started to improve, and "there is every reason to expect that this group will step up its work," Denisov said.
The bilateral working group is due to hold its next session in Moscow on April 28, the high-ranking Russian diplomat said.
"Tomorrow we will have a routine session in compliance with the working group’s political schedule," Denisov said, adding that the session would not be dedicated solely to the ratification of the two countries’ agreement to extend the lease on the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s base in Crimea.
"When the climate in relations between the states was not very favorable, meetings of this working group were not frequent and its discussions were not always constructive," he said.
Among outstanding legal problems facing the Black Sea Fleet, Denisov mentioned beacons, hydrographic issues, as well as documents regulating Russian servicemen’s entry, exit and movement within Ukrainian territory.
"Another very painful issue for us is the need to provide the fleet with new ships and weapons, as well as the use of coastal infrastructure," he said.
"However, the simple reason is that the sides could not or failed to foresee everything when they signed this agreement in 1997," Denisov sad.
