WASHINGTON (Archyde.com) – U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday his comments that Russian President Vladimir Putin should not remain in power reflected his moral anger over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine rather than a change in the administration’s policy toward Moscow.
Biden was pressured to speak up after he raised a barrage of questions about whether the United States had shifted toward a policy of regime change in Moscow.
“Neither then nor now did I prepare for a change in policy,” he told reporters at the White House. I was expressing a moral outrage that I felt and I am not apologizing for it.”
He said his angry statement, which came at the end of an important speech on Ukraine in Warsaw on Saturday, was prompted by a visit to families displaced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
At the end of his speech in the Polish capital, Biden had added a phrase that was not included in its pre-prepared text, saying that Putin “cannot remain in power.” Administration officials rushed to explain afterward that the White House was not advocating regime change in Russia.
Biden said he “does not take away any of his words” by clarifying his intent from the statement. When asked if his comments would cause a negative reaction from Putin, Biden said: “I don’t care what he thinks. He’ll do whatever he does no matter what.”
But Biden once again indicated that Putin should not be in charge of Russia. Biden said that if Putin “is to continue on the path that he is, he will become a pariah all over the world and who knows what will become of support for him in his country.”
But Biden did not rule out meeting with Putin, saying it depends on what he wants to talk about.
Biden earlier this month called Putin a “war criminal” for his role in the conflict that has claimed the lives of many Ukrainian civilians.
He said his statement on Saturday about Putin was directed at the Russian public.