European Commission believes it is too early to comment on the upcoming expiration of an agreement on the transit of Russian natural gas via Ukraine at the end of 2024, European Commission Spokesperson Tim McPhie said.

"The current agreement is due to end on December 31, 2014. The first thing to say is that this is quite far away and we are not in a position to speculate on what the situation will look like in over a year from now," McPhie said in reply to a corresponding question at a press briefing in Brussels on Monday.

At the same time, he recalled that the EU is pursuing the REPowerEU program to bolster its energy independence, and the European energy sector has seen considerable changes since February 2022.

"We have managed to successfully diversify supplies, we are speeding up our investments in renewable energy. We are also taking significant measures on energy efficiency and demand reduction. Without prejudging what the situation will look like at the end of 2024, we are in a very different position to where we were when the agreement was signed. Our objective remains to reduce as quickly as possible and as far as possible our imports of Russian fossil fuels," McPhie said.

The contract between Naftogaz Ukrainy and Gazprom on organizing gas transit, a transit agreement between Naftogaz and the Gas Transport System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU), and an inter-operator agreement between GTSOU and Gazprom were signed on December 30, 2019, under which 40 billion cubic meters of gas a year would be transported via Ukraine in 2021-2024.