Moscow hopes to settle status of Azov-Kerch water area at foreign ministers' level

The Russian Government hopes that the problem of the status of the Azov-Kerch water area will be solved at the talks between the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers in Kiev on October 30, the governmental information department told journalists commenting on Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich's proposal to discuss this issue with Russian Premier Mikhail Kasyanov.

The Russian Prime Minister said last week that the status of the Sea of Azov would be discussed during Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov' visit to Kiev.

The Russian position on the status of the Sea of Azov has been finally elaborated, the department stressed.

The authorities of the Krasnodar territory (Russia's south) are building the dam to restore the coastline of the Taman Peninsula which suffered from ecological misbalance. It caused a negative response of the Ukrainian side which considers the Russia is building the dam to connect Ukraine's Island of Tuzla with its territory.

Ukrainian border guards in the Kerch Strait were put on red alert.

According to the data of Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Kunitsyn, taking part in the parliamentary hearings on Russian-Ukrainian relations, the distance between the dam and the Russian-Ukrainian border has been reduced to 100 metres.