That was the phrase that, outside of his prepared text, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, launched this Saturday against his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putinin a speech in Poland.
The president spoke before hundreds of people in Warsaw, as part of a tour of Europe in which the US president has met with Western allies to join forces against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The phrase elicited a response from rejection by Moscow.
And a White House spokesman qualified Biden’s words, stating that the president was not calling for the removal of the Russian president.
What did Biden say?
The US president harshly criticized Putin, whom he called a “dictator”, for his “obscene” attempt to justify invasion of Ukraine under the pretext of “denazifying” that country.
He addressed the Russian people: “I have always spoken directly and honestly to you,” he said.
“Let me say this, if you can hear me: you Russians are not our enemy. I refuse to believe that you welcome the murder of innocent children and grandparents,” he continued.
“Or accept that hospitals, schools, or maternity wards – for God’s sake – get hit with Russian missiles and bombs.”
Biden spoke before hundreds of people at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland.
He also considered it unjustifiable that civilians cannot flee the conflict, or that there are supply cuts and hunger in Ukraine.
“Millions of families are being driven from their homes, including half of Ukraine’s children. These are not the actions of a great nation.”
Then he made the reference to Putin, which according to White House sources was not in his prepared speech: “For God’s sake, this man cannot stay in power.”
The Kremlin’s response
After the speech in Warsaw came the response from the Russian government.
The Kremlin said that it is not up to Joe Biden to decide whether Vladimir Putin remains in power: “The President of Russia is elected by the Russians”said a spokesman quoted by the Archyde.com agency.
Russian President Vladimir Putin calls the Russian invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation.”
Shortly afterward, when questioned about Biden’s words, a White House official said the president was not calling for regime change.
“The point that the president wanted to underline is that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise his power over his neighbors in the region,” he told reporters.
Support to Ukraine
Addressing Ukrainians, Biden expressed his support for his government and the people who are “fighting to save their nation.”
“We are with you. Period,” he said.
“We need to keep our eyes open: this battle will not be won in days or months either. We need to steel ourselves for the long fight ahead,” he said.
Biden met with US troops in Poland as part of his tour of Europe.
He recalled that in Hungary in 1956, in Poland in 1956 and 1981, as in Czechoslovakia in 1968, the Soviets repressed democratic uprisings, but that the resistance continued until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
“The Battle for Democracy it could not and did not end with the end of the Cold War. Over the last 30 years, the forces of autocracy have been revived around the world,” Biden continued.
“Its characteristics are known: contempt for the rule of law, contempt for democratic freedom, contempt for truth itself,” he added.
He accused Russia of “strangling democracy” in his own country and elsewhere.
