Russia and Ukraine Sign Agreement on State Border

Russia and Ukraine have signed an agreement on the state border. The Agreement on the Russian-Ukrainian border was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Leonid Kuchma on Tuesday in Kiev.

The text of the agreement has not been made public.

Earlier Ukrainian Foreign Ministry State Secretary Yury Sergeyev said that Article 1 of the Agreement on the Land Border "defines its subject as the line of the state border from the meeting point of the three countries - Ukraine, Russia and Belarus - to the Azov Sea." Article 5 provides for the modality of the negotiating process.

"We have come to full agreement over the maps, their description, and coordinates of crossing the state border. There are still some technicalities left which are being settled by experts," the diplomat noted.

The negotiating process will continue with a meeting of the Russian-Ukrainian sub-commission on border cooperation scheduled for mid-February, the State Secretary noted.

The land Russian-Ukrainian border is over 2,000 kilometers long.