Ukraine, Russia to discuss status of Azov and Kerch strait in Moscow

The first meeting of the Ukrainian-Russian working group on the status of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait will take place in Moscow on Monday, November 17.

The negotiations on the status and the division of the Sea of Azov have been going on for more than eight years.

The Russian side says that it is necessary to divide only the bottom of the sea with its natural resources, and the surface of the sea should be used jointly by both countries.

The next meeting of the delegations on the Sea of Azov will be held on December 5 in Kiev.

In January 2003 Ukraine and Russia signed a treaty on the border, which fixed land borders. However, the question of the sea borders was not decided.

The negotiations intensified after the beginning of the construction of the dam in the Kerch Strait from the Taman Peninsula to the Ukrainian island of Tuzla Spit. From September 29 to October 23 the Russian side built about four kilometres of the dam.

After the negotiations between the Presidents of the two countries the construction of the dam was suspended some 102 metres away from the Ukrainian-Russian border.