Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has visited Ukraine for talks on Wednesday the Associated Press news agency reports.

The main purpose of the visit was described as improving bilateral ties of two countries. However the complicated question of Russian Black Sea Fleet which is still staying on Ukrainian territory was also expected to be discussed.

Under a 1997 agreement that divided the Soviet Union’s Black Sea fleet between Russia and Ukraine, the Russian navy was allowed to remain in Sevastopol until 2017, paying an annual rent of 93 million U.S. Dollars.

Russia wants to extend the lease but Ukrainian nationalists are displeased, as Russia has taken over lighthouses, saying it was not the part of the original deal. Although Russia says the lighthouses are covered by the contract.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk — the head of Ukrainian nationalist party who has been in difficult relations with Moscow said that it is the time to change the relations of two countries from being based on ideology to a healthy pragmatism.

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