The White House claimed on Saturday that the US president is not seeking “regime change” in Russia after Joe Biden declared in a major speech previously this week that the Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot stay in power.
President Biden stressed last Saturday, speaking in Warsaw, Poland, on Saturday, that Russian President Putin cannot remain in power, obviously asking for a regime change.
Although a White House official has immediately tried to downplay Biden’s remarks that appeared to be a call to remove Russian president, emphasizing that his point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region, Kremlin dismissed Biden’s remark shortly after he spoke, noting it was up to Russians to choose their own president.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov blasted Biden’s remark, saying it was up to Russians to choose their own president and not for Biden to decide.
However, President Biden apparently continued with the escalating rhetoric later in the day, branding Putin a butcher during a meeting with Ukrainian refugees who have fled the war to the Polish capital.
Speaking on Saturday at Warsaw’s Royal Castle before hundreds of Polish elected officials, students, and US embassy staff, President Biden underscored that the West is united against Russia’s invasion, stressing, however, that NATO was a defensive security alliance which never sought Russia’s demise.
President Biden called the Russian president’s desire for absolute power a strategic failure for Russia and a direct challenge to European peace, branding the fight against Putin a new battle for freedom.
He pointed out that the world must prepare for a long fight ahead, warning Russia at the same time not to move on an inch of NATO territory, brandishing the “sacred obligation” of collective defense for NATO members, but underscoring that ordinary Russians are not their enemy.
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