Feb 6 (Reuters) - Slovakia's SPP began importing Russian

gas via the TurkStream pipeline from February 1, with deliveries

expected to double from April, local media cited Chairman

Vojtech Ferencz as saying on Thursday.

The company does not plan to end its contract with Russian

group Gazprom, which runs to 2034, Ferencz told news

website Dennik N.

An SPP representative was not immediately available to

comment.

Russian gas exports via Soviet-era pipelines through Ukraine

stopped on January 1 after Kyiv declined to renew a transit

agreement with Moscow.

Slovakia and Hungary have both sought a resumption.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said last month that

Russian President Vladimir Putin had promised Slovakia that

Gazprom would find alternative ways to deliver contracted gas.

(Reporting by Jason Hovet and Jan Lopatka in Prague

Writing by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk

Editing by David Goodman

)