The White House representative has censured Russia’s transition to remove energy supplies to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday.

“Unfortunately this is the type of step, the type of almost weaponizing energy supplies, that was predicted,” Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at a daily briefing.

She added that the US has been in contact with the leaders of the two countries within the past 24 hours. Psaki also noted that the US has been “working for some time now, for months, with partners around the world to diversity natural gas supplies to Europe”.

She added that the prisoner swap earlier today with Russia was not an indication of a larger diplomatic breakthrough.

The release of American Trevor Reed “does not change our approach” to the war in Ukraine, Psaki said.