Gazprom Chairman Alexei Miller informed Putin at a Monday meeting about the amount of gas Ukraine had diverted from the export pipeline running to Western Europe.

When Putin asked Miller what Gazprom planned to do in response to this, Miller said, "There is a proposal that the amount [of gas] supplied to the Russian-Ukrainian border be reduced by the amount that has already been stolen, which is 65.3 million cubic meters, and then the export supplies should be reduced each day by an amount that may be stolen this day," he said.

"Okay, I agree. Start such reductions today. And also inform our European partners and the European Commission about the situation," Putin said addressing Miller.