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The White House on Monday hosted executives from more than a dozen major US companies — including oil and food producers — for an “off the record” meeting about “the impact of the ongoing Russia/Ukraine conflict” as the European war threatens to further worsen inflation.

The gathering functioned as both a spin session and pep talk as President Biden attempts to pin soaring inflation on the conflict rather than on his policies.

Representatives of oil companies ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and Marathon Petroleum and food firms Land O’Lakes and Cargill were on the guest list — as were wind and solar energy companies Pattern and Invenergy; financial firms Visa, JP Morgan and Bank of America; and manufacturers Dow Chemical and US Steel.

Biden “dropped by” for about 20 minutes and “provided them an update on Russia-Ukraine,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a Monday afternoon briefing.

Biden and his team “conveyed the Administration’s commitment to continue imposing heavy costs on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to degrade Russia’s war machine and support the people of Ukraine, while taking concrete actions to mitigate the price increases on American consumers caused by Putin’s action,” the White House said in a readout.

“Participants also discussed the need to work together to address Putin’s disruptions to global markets and supply chains, especially for energy and agricultural commodities, and identify alternative sources of supply for key goods.”

The White House recently began arguing that Putin’s invasion caused inflation to hit its highest level in 40 years while simultaneously saying oil companies are partially to blame for high gas prices by choosing not to drill more. Critics point to government spending and Biden’s restrictions against drilling and pipelines.

Top Biden economist Brian Deese, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo addressed the group of business leaders.

Although Biden previously urged oil companies to drill more on already leased properties, Psaki said he didn’t specifically mention it to the visiting executives.

“It was not intended to be a meeting with oil CEOs,” Psaki said. “It was intended to be a meeting with a broad swath of the economic sectors and he provided them an update on Russia and Ukraine. So it wasn’t meant to be that type of meeting.”

It was unclear if the meetings touched on a White House cybersecurity warning issued Monday afternoon that urged companies to improve their defenses to guard against possible Russian breaches.

Anne Neuberger, a deputy national security adviser, said Monday that “several hundred companies” recently received classified briefings about apparent Russian preparations for cyberattacks. She did not identify the companies or describe any commonalities among them.

Biden swooped into the Monday gathering of executives ahead of his evening remarks to a Business Roundtable event, which were also scheduled to be about the war in Ukraine and “plans to lower costs for working families, create good-paying union jobs, and tackle the climate crisis,” according to his daily schedule.

It’s common for the White House to gather influential people for charm offensives that supply both messaging guidance and policy prodding. For example, in December, the West Wing hosted a group of recently elected mayors for four hours of briefings on administration policies. This month, the White House hosted 30 social media influencers for a virtual spin session about the war in Ukraine.

In recent remarks, Biden branded rising costs as “Putin’s price hike” despite the fact that costs already were soaring before Putin invaded Ukraine. Monthly inflation figures aren’t yet available for most of the period of time covered by the invasion, which began Feb. 24.

The most recent federal inflation data, tracked in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly Consumer Price Index, found the average cost of goods and services up 7.9 percent in February versus one year prior. That snapshot included less than a week of the conflict.

Annual inflation was up 7.5 percent in January versus one year prior — dashing White House predictions that the figure would begin to fall.

Biden claimed that November’s 6.8 percent annual inflation rate was likely the “peak,” but it instead increased to 7 percent in December. Biden previously said in July that inflation was “temporary” when it was around 5 percent.

Critics say the government has spent too much money without revenue offsets, in effect printing more dollars and making existing cash less valuable.

In March 2021, Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, which bailed out state and local governments, gave $1,400 stimulus checks to most Americans, extended a $300 weekly unemployment supplement through Sept. 6 and expanded the annual child tax credit to $3,000 to $3,600 per child, up from $2,000.

Biden’s stimulus followed bipartisan legislation in 2020 that distributed about $4 trillion to businesses, individuals and state and local governments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden signed in November a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that the Congressional Budget Office said would add $256 billion to the federal deficit, though the president argued it would ultimately lower inflation by improving the transportation of goods.

Biden called NBC journalist Lester Holt a “wise guy” last month — before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — when the veteran TV anchor pointed out that the president erroneously said high inflation would be temporary and that instead it surged to the highest rate since 1982.

“I think it was back in July, you said inflation was going to be temporary. I think a lot of Americans are wondering what your definition of temporary is,” Holt said during Biden’s first TV interview of 2022.

“Well, you’re being a wise guy with me a little bit,” Biden said. “And I understand, that’s your job.”

Biden told Holt that COVID-19 supply chain bottlenecks had helped drive inflation and singled out a shortage of semiconductors for cars — though the federal CPI tracked large jumps in a broad basket of goods and services.

“When can Americans expect some relief from this soaring inflation?” Holt asked.

The president said, “According to Nobel laureates, 14 on them that contacted me and a number of corporate leaders, it ought to be able to start to taper off as we go through this year.”

Biden has urged Democrats to pass his stalled $2.2 trillion Build Back Better Act to alleviate inflation. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) effectively killed the bill in December, citing inflation and rejecting Biden’s argument that new subsidies for child care, health care and electric vehicles would lower the cost of living.