BRUSSELS, Oct 30 – The European Commission believes it is too early to comment on the upcoming expiration of an agreement on the transit of Russian natural gas via Ukraine at the end of 2024, European Commission Spokesperson Tim McPhie said.

"The current agreement is due to end on December 31, 2014. The first thing to say is that this is quite far away and we are not in a position to speculate on what the situation will look like in over a year from now," McPhie said in reply to a corresponding question at a press briefing in Brussels on Monday.