The rumors that Ukraine will demand early withdrawal of the Russian Black Sea naval fleet from its territory and that it plans to amend the agreement on the Black Sea fleet are untrue, the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council's Secretary Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday.

According to Mr. Poroshenko, Ukraine is strictly fulfilling its obligations under the agreement on the Black Sea naval fleet.

He noted that this agreement stipulates that the Russian Black Sea fleet will be stationed on Ukrainian territory until the year 2017.

According to him, all the discussions taking place are about what will happen after 2017.

He stressed that negotiations on the fate of the fleet after 2017 should be held early to enable the two countries to prepare and make the relevant decisions.

He announced that an agreement on setting up an intergovernmental commission called the Yuschenko-Putin commission will be presented to Ukraine's President Viktor Yuschenko and Russia's President Vladimir Putin for signing on May 8.

During Mr. Poroshenko's meetings with Mr. Putin, the Russian National Security Council's Secretary Igor Ivanov, and the Gosduma's Speaker Boris Gryzlov, it was decided to the set of issues related to the Black Sea fleet are to be resolved within the framework of an international cooperation committee.