Russia, Ukraine Sign Agreement on Maritime Border Delimitation
22:23 12/07/2012 YALTA, July 12 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovych on Thursday signed a preliminary agreement on the delimitation of the maritime border between the two countries in the Kerch Strait.
The Russian-Ukrainian maritime border in the Kerch Strait which links the Sea of Azov to the Black Sea, has long been a bone of contention between the two states. It was remaining undefined since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
According to Soviet-era maps, the border between Russia and Ukraine was directly down the middle of the Kerch Strait. However, the man-made Kerch-Yenikal Channel, which is navigable for large ships, then falls into Ukrainian waters.
In the summer of 2003, a bitter dispute broke out between Russia and Ukraine over the Tuzla Island in the middle of the Kerch Strait, which came to a head when Russia tried to construct a dam on the island. Ukraine accused Russia of encroaching on its territory.
Ukraine unilaterally established a maritime border with Russia in the 1990s, saying it was based on the Soviet-era administrative border between the two republics. Russia has repeatedly denied the existence of Soviet administrative borders.
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