White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, addressed the nation, via social media, about the recent spike in gas prices. She starts her talk by saying that “a lot of it has to do with Vladimir Putin.”

Perhaps the most notable thing about the White House’s post, is the overwhelming majority of replies are in Russian.

Screenshot from @whithouse on IG

There are tens of thousands of comments, and many of them translate to Pro-Russian, or anti NATO sentiments. It is unclear why there was such strong response, or if these are legitimate accounts. Several of the accounts commenting appear to be real people, with posting history going back years.

However, some feel that a lot of the accounts could be “Bots.” Meaning new profiles created through an AI algorithm for the specific purpose of commenting.

Some of the top comments translate to:

• “Russia, Russia Russia!”
• “Go away NATO”
• “You lead sheep!”

Why are gas prices up?

NBC recently published economic findings saying, “Prices at the pump were rising long before Russia invaded Ukraine and have spiraled faster since the start of the war.”

Furthermore, “Gas prices have been rising for weeks due to the conflict and in anticipation of potential sanctions on the Russian energy sector.”

Press Secretary explains White House views

During the post, Psaki points out that Russia is one of the world’s three largest producers of oil. She attributes Russia’s size and scope in the oil market and their choice to start a conflict with and invade Ukraine to the volatility of the world’s gas prices. She assured us, however, that the Biden administration is doing everything it can to lower prices here in the United States.

The Press Secretary noted in her address that the first year of the Biden’s presidency produced more oil in the US than the first year of Trump’s presidency. She made this point not to inflate Biden or downplay Trump, but to segway into “big oil’s” role in the current gas price scare.

She notes that, “Right now, there are over 9,000 approved unused permits that oil and gas companies could tap into now to ramp up production.” She continues that the current administration is taking steps to ensure that domestic gas and oil companies are utilizing every available resource to deliver US oil to the world market. According to Psaki, “That includes the release of 40 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve back in the fall.” Additionally, the administration plans to release an additional 30 million barrels.

Press Secretary Psaki concludes that the only true way to ensure that the US is responsible for its own gas prices is to focus on energy independence. She added that this is the reason that the current administration is highly focused on clean and renewable energy sources here in the US.