MOSCOW (AFP) -- Russia's defense ministry said Tuesday it wants to keep its Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine beyond a 2017 withdrawal deadline set by Kiev, Interfax reported, amid fears the issue could lead to a conflict.

""We would like the Black Sea Fleet to remain in Sevastopol after the 2017 expiration of the current agreement with Ukraine,"" Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov was quoted as saying by the news agency.
""We are ready to offer an array of proposals for this,"" he added.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ogryzko said last month that Russia must immediately begin preparations for a 2017 withdrawal.
Political analysts say the mainly Russian-speaking Crimea Peninsula, where the Sevastopol base is located, could become the Black Sea region's next flashpoint after Georgia.
Russian proposals to defuse the crisis could include raising the rent Russia pays to use the port of Sevastopol and helping develop social infrastructure, trade and ship-building, Serdyukov said.
He called the offers ""beneficial for both countries.""
In Kiev, Ukraine's foreign ministry declined to comment immediately on the proposals on the Black Sea Fleet, the subject of a long-running dispute between the two countries that flared up again during last month's war in Georgia.
Russian and Ukrainian officials are due to meet by the end of September to discuss the fleet's future after Ukraine's pro-Western president Viktor Yushchenko sought last month to impose new restrictions on it.
Yushchenko, a vocal supporter of Georgia in its conflict with Russia, said Ukraine should have a stronger say in the fleet's movements after it was used in maneuvers off the Georgian coast.
The fleet is based in Sevastopol on the Crimea Peninsula, a part of Ukraine that is home to many Russian-speakers and which some European officials fear could become a target of Russian aggression.
Moscow denies having any designs on Crimea, but some Russian politicians have angered Ukraine by saying the peninsula should be part of Russia.
Under a 20-year agreement signed in 1997, Moscow pays 98 million dollars (68 million euros) a year to maintain its naval base in Sevastopol, an amount which some Ukrainians say is much too small for its oil-rich neighbor.
Sevastopol is the only Black Sea port deep enough for big warships and equipped with the necessary infrastructure for the fleet.