Russia is ready to continue gas exports to Europe through several routes just as a contract to transit the fuel via Ukraine is expected to end this year, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in the Kremlin on Sunday, a rare visit by a European Union leader to Moscow as a contract allowing for Russian gas to transit through Ukraine nears expiry.

A major contract governing the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine will come to end on January 1, with significant implications for Moscow’s exports to some European Union countries. “The end of the transit contract will mark an important shift because gas via Ukraine governed by the contract currently accounts for half of Russia’s remaining