The United States of America has reacted to Russia’s decision to cut the supply of gas to Europe.

According to US officials, Moscow has taken the action in reaction to various sanctions against it from the West.

The Joe Biden administration is now said to be working furiously behind the scenes to keep European allies united against Russia.

Moscow further cut its energy supplies to the European Union, prompting panic on both sides of the Atlantic over potentially severe gas shortages heading into winter, US officials say.

Russia’s state-owned gas company Gazprom on Monday said it would cut flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany in half, to just 20% of its capacity.

A US official, according to CNN, said the move was retaliation for Western sanctions, and that it put the West in “unchartered territory” when it comes to whether Europe will have enough gas to get through the winter.

In response to the turmoil, the White House dispatched the presidential coordinator for global energy Amos Hochstein to Europe on Tuesday, officials said.

He will be traveling to Paris and Brussels to discuss contingency planning with the US-EU energy task force created in March, one month after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“This was our biggest fear,” said the US official.

The impact on Europe could boomerang back onto the US, spiking natural gas and electricity prices, the official said.