Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko on Friday, discussing the crisis in Ukraine, the Kremlin press service said.

"The conversation focused on the crisis in Ukraine, which causes serious concern about possible negative consequences of this confrontation for the Ukrainian economy and social sphere, as well as for the sustainable development of the Russian-Ukrainian cooperation," the press service said.

"The Russian side voiced sincere interest in the soonest normalization and hope that all power branches in Ukraine will display conscientiousness for the sake of settling the crisis exclusively with political and constitutional methods and constructive dialog," the press service said.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko issued an order on Monday to dissolve parliament and hold early elections on May 27. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and his ruling coalition in parliament have refused to accept the order. On Thursday Yanukovych called for international mediation to resolve the crisis.

(Xinhua News Agency April 7, 2007)