KIEV, March 25 – President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to arrange immediate talks with Russian natural gas giant Gazprom for signing a long-term gas supply agreement before the end of March.

Yushchenko said the talks were needed because the situation with 2008 gas supplies look less “optimistic” as had been originally thought, adding Ukraine has owed $2 billion for supplies.