Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia aims to keep pumping gas via Ukraine to the European Union but added that Moscow could not force Kyiv to keep the transit agreement, which expires at the end of this year.
He added that alternative routes for transit would then be evaluated, including using the TurkStream pipeline.
The Kremlin warned recently that European consumers could face higher prices unless Kyiv agrees to extend the Russian gas transit deal through Ukraine, which is set to expire on Dec. 31.
"As for Ukraine, we are not abandoning this transit, oddly enough. Why? Because we, and Gazprom, intend to fulfill all our obligations to our customers with whom we have long-term contracts," Putin said.
"There is a transit contract that ends on Dec. 31 of this year. But if Ukraine refuses this transit, well, we can't force it," Putin said.
Putin said that Gazprom's main consumers in Europe did not seem to want the transit agreement to end even though they provided military assistance to Ukraine.
Late in August, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that if Kyiv did not extend the deal, Russia could find alternative routes, such as the planned Turkish gas hub.
"There are alternative routes and plans to create a hub in Türkiye. This work is in progress," Peskov said.
The Soviet-era Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline brings gas from western Siberia via Sudzha in Russia's Kursk region. It then flows through Ukraine in the direction of Slovakia.
In Slovakia, the gas pipeline is divided; one of the branches goes to Czechia, and the other goes to Austria. The main buyers of gas are Hungary, Slovakia and Austria.
If Ukraine refused to transit Russian gas, then Russia would use the TurkStream gas pipeline under the Black Sea to supply Europe.
"Ukraine refuses our transit, which means that the volumes of gas that enter Europe will decrease," Putin said. "They will follow other routes, particularly through the TurkStream, maybe partly through the Blue Stream to Türkiye, too. But this is their choice; I do not fully know how it will affect them."
TurkStream directly connects the largest gas reserves in Russia to the Turkish gas transportation network, providing reliable energy to Türkiye and south and southeast Europe. The project was launched in 2020 in Istanbul in a ceremony attended by Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Ukraine has earlier said it has no plans for a new gas transit deal with Russia amid the ongoing military conflict.
The additional concerns over gas transit to Europe were raised amid recent fighting in the Kursk, where the gas transit point into Ukraine, Sudzha, is located.
In 2022, Russia proposed setting up a gas hub in Türkiye to replace lost sales to Europe, supporting Ankara's long-held desire to function as an exchange for countries looking to ensure energy supply.