MOSCOW, September 22. /TASS/. Russia fulfills all of its obligations towards gas consumers in the European Union and it is impossible to increase gas transit before gas is sold under a contract, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

Peskov commented on the statement Amos Hochstein, US State Department's Senior Advisor for Energy Security made in an interview with Bloomberg. Hochstein said that Russia should increase gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine as soon as possible, since some EU countries may not have enough reserves in the event of severe cold weather in the coming winter.

"The Russian side is fulfilling all its contractual obligations towards European consumers by one hundred percent and even more. Moreover, as far as we know, now we are generally close to the all-time high in terms of gas supplies to European buyers," the Kremlin spokesman said.

Peskov pointed at "a very simple truth", which is that "gas is first sold, then produced, and only then transited."

According to the Kremlin official, to increase the volume of gas supplies through Ukraine, for example, after 2024, Europe should increase its purchases of Russian gas.

"But there [in Europe], other issues arise: all those "green" transitions, and new duties, and so on. But this is already a question for the Europeans. By virtue of their legislation - this is the Third Energy Package - they now prefer to focus more on spot supplies, on the spot market, which leads to an abrupt, galloping rise in prices," Peskov added.

As for Gazprom, Peskov assured that "it was, remains and will remain the most reliable guarantor of gas supplies to consumers in Europe."

"But in order to remain so [a reliable gas supplier], someone must buy this gas in certain volumes. As for Gazprom, it is able and ready to fulfill its contractual obligations," the press secretary of the Russian President concluded.