US President Joe Biden has defended his controversial statement that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” because of the Ukraine war. Biden said in the White House today that he “does not take back” his sentence.
In his speech in the Polish capital Warsaw over the weekend, he expressed “moral outrage” and did not announce a new US policy. “I make no apologies for my personal feelings.”
Biden also denied that his statement could escalate the Ukraine war or complicate diplomatic efforts to end the war.
“This man cannot stay in power”
Biden sharply attacked Putin on Saturday evening in a speech at the Royal Castle in Warsaw because of the war of aggression against Ukraine and said – deviating from his speech: “This man cannot stay in power.” The statement immediately caused international irritation.
The White House rushed to assert that Biden was not seeking “regime change” in Moscow. The Kremlin described Biden’s comments on Monday as “alarming”.