Moscow ? Russia and Ukraine agreed Friday to negotiate a dispute between the two ex-Soviet republics over a small Crimean island that controls access to resource-rich waters.

Russia agreed to halt construction of a dike from the Russian mainland to Tuzla Island in the Kerch Strait that connects the Black and Azov Seas, while Ukraine said it would consider withdrawing troops from the island after a review of the project by environmental authorities.

Trucks carry sand to add to a dike along the Kerch Strait. Because of a dispute with Ukraine, Russia agreed Friday to halt construction of the dike on the strait. Ukranian politicians have claimed the Russians are building the dike in an attempt to appropriate Ukrainian land. Russian officials insist the project's goal is to reduce erosion.

But Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and his Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yanukovych, failed to make any progress on the disputed status of the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait, saying the talks will continue and the agreement could be reached within two or three months.

Yanukovych said after the talks that Ukraine believed that Tuzla Island was “an inalienable part” of its territory, but Kasyanov stressed that Russia considered its status “disputable.”

Both emphasized the need to refrain from unilateral action and Kasyanov said part of the blame for the crisis lies with the authorities of Russia’s Krasnodar region, who ordered building the dike without asking his Cabinet’s permission.

At the same time, Kasyanov voiced concern about Ukraine’s military buildup in the area and emotional statements from Ukrainian politicians. “We have been somewhat disappointed and distressed by the latest developments,” he told Yanukovych at the start of their meeting.

Construction of the dike was stopped Thursday, hours after Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma cut short a foreign trip to inspect Ukrainian border troops guarding Tuzla, which Ukraine claims as its territory.