KIEV, Jan. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- The Ukrainian foreign ministry proposed late Sunday night a resumption of talks with Russia, which had cut off gas supply to Ukraine over a price dispute.

    Russian gas giant Gazprom cut off natural gas supply to Ukraine on Sunday after Kiev rejected Russia's demand to more than quadruple the price from the 50 U.S. dollars per 1,000 cubic meters over the past year.

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    The move was aimed at "destabilising the Ukraine economy" and creating an "economic pressure" on the country, which would also affect gas supplies to Europe as most of the gas it buys from Russia transits through Ukraine, the ministry said in a statement.

    The ministry called on Russia to resume talks involving international experts and stop resorting to non-market measures in dealing with the standoff.

    Earlier Sunday, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said tha this country was ready to pay a "reasonable market price" for Russian gas.

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    But he added that the price proposed by Russia's state-owned gas monopoly Gazprom -- 230 U.S. dollars per 1,000 cubic meters, as from Jan. 1, 2006 -- was unacceptable to his country.

    The president also said he would ask his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to bring Gazprom back to the negotiating table so as to work out a solution to the deadlocked gas dispute between the two countries. Enditem