The European Commission is working hard to abandon Russian gas supplies that it receives through Ukraine, the commission’s spokesperson, Tim McPhie, has said. The EU’s gas transit contract with Moscow expires at the end of this year, Paralel.Az reports citing RT.

According to McPhie, the total transit volume to such EU nations as Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Italy, currently amounts to about 15 billion cubic meters (bcm) a year.

“The European Commission is working closely with these countries to ensure that they have the necessary gas supplies,” McPhie said. “I will not talk about specific routes, but we are talking about ensuring that these countries can receive gas through other gas pipelines, as well as liquefied natural gas, and we are confident that it’s possible,” he told a briefing in Brussels on Wednesday.