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US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that Covid lockdowns were the primary cause of the US' rising inflation after he had been propagating the idea of the Putin price hike for some time now.

Biden's administration has been trying to blame runaway inflation on Russia's military operation in Ukraine, but has now chosen to "demote" Russia as the principal culprit, saying the first reason was Covid.

There were “two reasons” for the high prices, Biden said. “The first was Covid. Because of the pandemic, we had disruptions in our supply of important materials, so prices went up," and continued to say "And the second big reason for inflation is Vladimir Putin, not a joke,” he then said.

“Last month, about 70% of the increase in inflation was the consequence of Putin’s price hike because of the impact of gas and energy prices.”

Since banning the import of Russian energy sources to the US on March 8, the White House has been using the term "Putin price hike" to explain rising energy prices and inflation.

Read more: US Oil Exec: High energy prices caused by Biden's policies

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin replied to the White House's blame-shifting at the time, saying Moscow had "absolutely nothing to do with" rising gas prices, because Russia's exports to the US were "negligible to begin with."

“They just hide behind these decisions in order to deceive once again their own population,” Putin said last month.

Gas prices in the US rose 18% from the previous month and 48% compared to the same time last year. March has seen the highest spike in inflation since 1981 according to the US Bureau of Labor Statisics.

It's been estimated that nearly 80% of US dollars in existence have been printed since Biden took office, in January 2020.