KIEV, April 16 - Ukraine seeks to immediately resume natural gas talks with Russia, with President Viktor Yanukovych requesting an urgent meeting with Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin.

Yanukovych, on the occasion of Russia and Ukraine both celebrating Orthodox Christian Easter on Sunday, called Putin to request the meeting.

“Yesterday we had a conversation with Putin at my initiative,” Yanukovych told reporters in Amman, Jordan, his press service reported. “We discussed a range of mutual issues. We agreed to have the meeting in the near future, even before [Putin’s] inauguration, to continue the dialog.”