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Gas route diversification from Russia to Europe is matter of commercial benefit — Peskov

It was reported that Kiev lost import from Hungary through the so-called virtual reverse due to the termination Russian natural gas transit through the Ukrainian territory

MOSCOW, October 4. / TASS /. The diversification of gas supply routes from Russia to Europe is a matter of commercial benefit, Russian Presidential Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

"The diversification of gas transportation routes to European consumers is a matter of commercial benefit," Peskov said, when commenting on concerns by Ukraine that the supply of Russian gas to European countries bypassing it calls into question the existence of the Ukrainian gas transportation system.

Ukraine's GTS Operator announced on October 1 the termination of gas transit to Hungary. It was also reported that Kiev lost import from this country through the so-called virtual reverse due to the termination Russian natural gas transit through the Ukrainian territory to Hungary.

On October 1, Gazprom began supplying gas to Hungary under a long-term contract signed on September 27 through the Balkan Stream gas pipeline (a continuation of the Turkish Stream) and pipelines in South-Eastern Europe. As the holding reported earlier, only two contracts were signed, the total volume of which is up to 4.5 bln cubic meters per year. Both contracts were signed for 15 years.

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