Ukraine still wants close EU ties: Austria

VIENNA (Reuters) - Visiting Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich assured Austrian officials on Friday that his country wanted to maintain close ties with Europe, the foreign ministry in Vienna said. "They have told us that they haven't turned their back on Europe but they want to continue close cooperation," a ministry spokesman said after Yanukovich met Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger. "They said that they didn't call it quits." Ukraine abruptly spurned an historic new alliance with its western neighbors on Thursday, suspending an imminent trade pact with the European Union and saying it would revive talks on a deal instead with Russia, its old Soviet master. (Reporting by Michael Shields; editing by Andrew Roche)