"Gazprom’s unilateral breach of gas contracts with Bulgaria and Poland is another example of Russia weaponizing energy, demonstrating Russia’s unreliability as an energy supplier," Blinken said in a tweet on Thursday.
"The U.S. stands firmly with our Allies and is working to help diversify their energy sources," he added.
Blinken was tweeting after Russia this week suspended gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria after the two countries refused to pay in roubles amid the war in Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden said on Thursday: "We’re working with other nations — like Korea, Japan, Qatar, and others — to support our effort to help the European allies threatened by Russia with gas blackmail and their energy needs in other ways."
Biden added: "Aggression will not win. Threats will not win."
Polish President Andrzej Duda (right) and US President Joe Biden (left) meet in Warsaw on March 26, 2022. Photo: KPRP/Jakub Szymczuk
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday that the United States was working with partners around the world to diversify natural gas supplies to Europe.
She said that Biden last month launched a task force with the European Union "to target additional LNG volumes" for Europe, including Poland and Bulgaria.
During a trip to Europe last month, Biden pledged that the United States would ship more liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the European Union to help reduce its reliance on Russian energy.
"We're coming together to reduce Europe's dependence on Russia's energy," Biden said at the time, as quoted by the Reuters news agency.
"We should not subsidise Putin's brutal attack on Ukraine," he told reporters while in Brussels on March 25.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said at a joint news conference with Biden in the Belgian capital that the 27-nation bloc was working to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies.
"Your commitment to provide the EU with an additional 15 bcm (billion cubic metres) of LNG this year is a big step in this direction," she said at the time.
Von der Leyen said on Wednesday that Russian energy firm Gazprom's decision to stop delivering gas to European customers was "yet another attempt by Russia to use gas as an instrument of blackmail."
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters a day earlier that his country had sufficient reserves and alternative supply routes after Russia said it was suspending gas supplies to Poland under a long-term contract.
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Source: IAR, PAP, whitehouse.gov