Prime Minister Vladimir Putin today proposed a merger between Russia's Gazprom, the world's largest gas firm, and Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz. The announcement came following Putins talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov in the southern city of Sochi. Broadcast on state television, it is the latest move to revive ties between the two countries after Ukraine's new pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych came to power earlier this year.<br/>The plan risks alarming the European Union, which has warily eyed Russia's gas expansion plans, and also infuriating the pro-Western opposition in Ukraine in an already tense domestic political situation.<br/>