MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. The demand for Russian gas still exists in Europe, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in an interview aired by the Rossiya-24 TV news channel on Friday, adding that this market remains relevant to Moscow, though Russia plans to diversify and redirect supplies.

"We surely consider the European market relevant to us, and we ensure supplies there. There is demand for Russian gas, with European colleagues constantly asking for an increase in volumes through the infrastructure that is currently employed, meaning TrukStream, Blue Stream, and partially through the Ukrainian infrastructure," he said.

Russia will redirect gas supplies to other markets, Novak added. "With the total political sentiment to reduce the dependence on volumes supplied from Russia we will be redirecting this volume to other markets as Russian gas is demanded, it is cheap, with large gas reserves in place, and we will be developing those directions," he noted.

The Asian direction remains one of the most important, Deputy PM pointed out. "Supplies via the Power of Siberia are rising now, which means that the Asian direction in this part is becoming one of the key ones," he said.

Russia also plans to reach LNG production of 60 mln tons per year in the coming years, whereas later production may be increased to 100 mln tons, Novak said.

"We are actively diversifying the supplies of liquified natural gas. Previously Russia only produced 11 mln tons of LNG, whereas today there are four plants with the total capacity of 36 mln tons of LNG, which means an almost 3.5-fold increase. We have even more ambitious goals of reaching the level of 60 mln tons in the coming 3-4 years, and later of 100 mln tons," he said.