The Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches have held high-level talks to lay the groundwork for a historic meeting of their two leaders after years of frosty ties, a top Russian bishop said Wednesday.

- Both sides have the desire to prepare this meeting - Archbishop Ilarion, who heads the Russian Orthodox Church's foreign relations department, told reporters, though he stressed that problems remained.

- There have been visits at a high level - he said. - We are moving towards the moment when it will become possible to prepare a meeting between the pope and the Moscow patriarch. -

Relations between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church have been tense for centuries, and were again strained in recent years by Orthodox accusations of Catholics proselytizing in post-Soviet Russia.

But Ilarion spoke of a rapprochement under Pope Benedict XVI that would allow for a meeting with the new Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, who took up his office in February after the death of the previous patriarch.

- In recent years there have been noticeable improvements in the relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church - Ilarion said.

- The progress in relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church began after Benedict XVI became pope. He is... a person who does not aim to grow the Catholic Church in traditional Orthodox regions. -

Some observers have hinted a meeting between the two Church leaders was forthcoming, but many issues still stand in the way of bridging the split, which dates from 1054.

Ilarion underscored particularly difficult ties between the two faiths in western Ukraine, which the patriarch recently visited.