MOSCOW, July 6 (UPI) -- Warmer ties between Ukraine and Russia are needed to improve the regional economic climate, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.
Putin told top Cabinet officials that ties with the ex-Soviet republic were needed in several industrial sectors, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports.
"Our enterprises have a lot in common and for dozens of years they worked as part of one production chain and these ties need to be restored," he said.
The prime minister added that manufacturing plants in Ukraine could be utilized for the modernization of nuclear power plants in both countries.
Ties between the two neighbors have improved under Ukraine's pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych. Yanukovych in April secured a better gas deal with Russian gas company Gazprom, easing strains in the energy sector.
Gazprom in January 2009 cut gas to Ukraine, disrupting about 80 percent of the gas for Europe for several weeks.
Opposition lawmakers in Kiev have criticized improved relations with Moscow as a sign the Ukrainian leadership was moving too close to former patrons in the Kremlin.
