Viktor Yushchenko said that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered a bilateral commission to reinvigorate work on agreeing the border between their countries in the Kerch Strait, and also to prepare an agreement on the Russian-Ukrainian border in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.
The Ukrainian president also said he agreed with Putin that a trade and economic committee on the issue would start its work in the first quarter of the year and a cooperation committee, chaired by the prime ministers of the two countries, would start work in the second quarter.
Kiev wants the new border between the countries to be the same as the administrative border established between Russia and Ukraine in the 1950s, when the Crimean peninsula was made a part of the latter.
Yushchenko's positive noises on the issue were in contrast to statements made by both sides last month.
After talks with Russia in early December, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Anton Buteiko said only that "the sides maintained their positions on this issue... I cannot speak of progress." Later in the month, Russian parlimentarian Konstantin Kosachyov, Chairman of the State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee, said that "Any attempts by our Ukrainian partners to begin debates on the issue are illegitimate, contradict international law and, of course, don't have very good prospects."
Presidents Yushchenko and Putin met today in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, where they earlier attended Nursultan Nazarbayev's presidential inauguration.
