MOSCOW, May 25 – Russia plans to redirect 20% of the gas it transports through Ukraine to the new Nord Stream pipeline, a move that may deprive Ukraine $700 million in annual transit revenues.

Interfax news agency reported that Alexei Miller, CEO Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom said on Wednesday during a gas meeting in Brussels that around 20 billion cubic meters of gas would be diverted from transit to Europe via neighboring Ukraine to Nord Stream, which will run under the Baltic Sea to Germany and is slated for launch later this year.