BRATISLAVA, December 23. /TASS/. Imports of Russian gas by the Czech Republic surged by about 530% year on year, Chief Economist of the Trinity Bank Lukas Kovanda said, cited by the TASR news agency.

Norway and Russia are the top supplies of natural gas to the Czech Republic. "Imports of Norwegian gas declined in annual terms by almost 40% from January to October. This drop is compensated exactly by the dramatic increase of supplies from Russia, While the Czech Republic received 145,600 metric tons of gas from Russia from January to October last year, then in the same period of this year - 915,900 metric tons," Kovanda said.

The Czech Republic is receiving Russian pipe gas indirectly via Slovakia and Hungary, and also from Austria until recently, the expert noted. The country took advantage of benefits related to cheap gas imports from Russia this year.