You're reading: Yeltsin: We have always been good friends

Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin met Saturday with President Leonid Kuchma to emphasize their warm, personal ties.

warm, personal ties, despite a recent border crisis that strained relations between the two former Soviet republics.

“We have always been, are and will remain good friends forever, like our two nations,” Kuchma’s office quoted Yeltsin as saying during their tete-a-tete meeting in Kuchma’s state residence in the Carpathian mountains in Ukraine’s western Ivano-Frankivsk region.

Yeltsin, currently on vacation in Ukraine, stopped by at Kuchma’s invitation.

Relations between the two countries soured over Russia’s recent effort to build a dike from its mainland to Tuzla Island in the Kerch Strait connecting the Black and Azov Seas.

Ukraine, which considers Tuzla its property, responded by deploying border guards on the island. As the dike grew closer to Tuzla, Russia agreed to suspend the work, demanding in return that Ukraine withdraw its troops.

“We have always managed to find the right decisions … that satisfied both of our countries,” Yeltsin said.

Since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a dispute over the Sea of Azov. The sea has busy shipping routes and extensive fishing resources and some experts say there are potentially rich oil fields on the sea floor.