Thanks to the agreement signed at Yalta in southern Ukraine, Russia and Ukraine "will avoid hindering each other in sales to third countries," Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said, stressing that the two countries would do better to "combine their efforts."

The Russian premier was speaking after co-chairing a meeting of an economic cooperation commission with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovich.

The two former Soviet republics often offer similar kinds of weapons on the export market, Kasyanov said, though he noted that Russo-Ukrainian cooperation in the military sector had improved markedly in recent years.

Russia and Ukraine also signed an accord on cooperation in migration issues, aimed in particular at easing employment of each other's nationals, Yanukovich said.

WAR.WIRE