MOSCOW, June 29 - Kremlin-controlled gas producer Gazprom is rethinking plans to stop transporting gas to Europe via Ukraine after 2019, a change of tack that comes just days before talks on supplies to Ukraine are due to resume, Reuters reported.

Gazprom's about-face also comes as its plans to build an underwater gas pipeline to Turkey to bypass Ukraine have hit a snag.

Moscow and Kiev signed the current 10-year contract in the winter of 2009, when Russian gas transit through Ukraine to Europe was halted for a few weeks over a pricing dispute.