Moscow - The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine met Friday, in the first sign of improving relations after months of tension between the two countries.

Ukraine's new foreign minister Petro Poroshenko said that Kiev "was ready to resume the dialogue at all levels, including at the highest one," the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Russia and Ukraine have fallen out repeatedly in recent years over gas payments, the presence of Russian naval forces in the Crimea, and Ukraine's efforts to join NATO, amongst other issues.

The two ministers particularly made progress on the issue of Russia's Black Sea fleet, which had been stationed in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol since Soviet times.

The Ukrainian President, Viktor Yushchenko had previously irked Moscow by calling for the Russian fleet to leave Ukraine after the term of its current agreement runs out in 2017.

"Moscow is not proposing to revise the basic agreements on the Black Sea Fleet. We did not hear today suggestions from the Ukrainian side in this respect, either," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. (dpa)