VIENNA, June 24. /ITAR-TASS/. European Union understands the plans of the Russian gas exporter Gazprom to pump additional gas amounts into European underground storage facilities at its own expense, said the company’s chief executive Alexei Miller.

“Gazprom has a reputation of a reliable supplier here, and we hold this reputation dear and sustain it," he told journalists.

This, he added, was one of the ways to neutralize Ukrainian risks under consideration, in order “to promptly compensate for possible interruptions in case of Ukraine’s unsanctioned use of transit gas and implement contracts”.