White House responds to Russia's decision to put deterrence forces on high alert

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to put Russia's deterrence forces, which includes nuclear arms, on high alert are part of a wider pattern of unprovoked escalation and "manufactured threats" from the Kremlin.

"This is really a pattern that we've seen from President Putin through the course of this conflict, which is manufacturing threats that don't exist in order to justify further aggression -- and the global community and the American people should look at it through that prism," Psaki told ABC's George Stephanopoulos on "This Week."

Additionally, a senior administration official told CNN on Sunday that Putin's move was "yet another escalatory and totally unnecessary step," a senior administration official said Sunday.