President Joe Biden’s call to remove Vladimir Putin from power is alarming American foreign policy experts, who fear it could escalate tensions even if the Kremlin scales back its military goals in Ukraine.
“For God’s sake, this man can’t stay in power,” Biden said in a shockingly obvious call for regime change in Moscow at the end of an impassioned speech from Poland on Saturday.
The unscripted remark, which the White House was quick to drop when the Kremlin flared, came at the end of a strong and fiery speech rallying the free world to unite in opposition to autocracy and support for Ukraine.
Richard Haas, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, tweeted that he was concerned that Biden “has just expanded US military goals by calling for regime change.”
“Desirable as it is, it is beyond our control, plus there is a risk that it will increase Putin’s tendency to view this as a fight to the end, increasing the chances that he will refuse to compromise, escalate, or both,” Haas wrote.
“Our interests are to end the war on terms that Ukraine can accept and prevent Russian escalation. Today’s call for regime change is incompatible with these goals,” he added.
President Joe Biden’s call to remove Vladimir Putin from power in Russia is alarming foreign policy experts. who fear it could escalate tensions
“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” he said of Putin, calling the Russian president “a craving for absolute power and control.”
Even before Biden could board Air Force One to begin the flight back to Washington, his aides were quick to say he was not calling for an immediate change of government in Moscow.
“The president’s point of view was that Putin should not be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He did not discuss Putin’s power in Russia or regime change,” a White House spokesman said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quick to denounce Biden, saying that “it is not the President of the United States and not the Americans who should decide who remains in power in Russia.”
Biden’s troubling out-of-the-box remark came just 24 hours after the White House rushed to clarify the president’s other awkward remarks that U.S. troops would and are already deployed in Ukraine.
Speaking to US paratroopers in Poland on Friday, Biden said: “You’ll see when you’re there – some of you were there – you’ll see women, young people, standing in the middle, in front of a fucking tank, saying, ‘I’m not leaving.’
The White House was forced to clarify on Friday that US troops would not enter Ukraine after President Biden made a reservation in his speech to the paratroopers in Poland.
Biden’s reference to “when you’re there” seems to suggest that troops will be moved across the border, but the administration insists the stance has not changed.
“The President has made it clear that we are not sending US troops to Ukraine, and there is no change in that position,” a White House official told Fox News on Friday.
Biden has insisted that no troops will be brought into Ukraine during Putin’s invasion under any circumstances, fearing that it will escalate into World War III and eventually become a long-term combat mission, like in Afghanistan.
In his fiery speech on Saturday, Biden drew a clear line between democracy and oppression, repeatedly harassing Putin and accusing the Russian president of dishonesty.
Speaking outdoors in the cobbled courtyard of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, lit by the colors of Poland and Ukraine, Biden accused Putin of “using brute force and disinformation” to rule.
“This is nothing short of a direct challenge to the rules-based system of international order,” Biden said.
President Joe Biden accused Vladimir Putin of duplicity in the run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden also took a cue from Arnold Schwarzenegger, who released a video message to the Russians that went viral and addressed the Russians directly.
‘IM telling you the truth. This war is unworthy of you, the Russian people,” he said. “Putin can and must put an end to this war. The American people will support you and the brave citizens of Ukraine who want peace.”
And he warned that Putin’s aggression could lead to “decades of war” in Europe.
“This is nothing less than a direct challenge to the order established since World War II, and it threatens to return to decades of war that ravaged Europe before the rules-based international order was established. We can’t go back to that,” Biden said.
Biden also tried to reassure worried Eastern European countries. He made clear that the NATO alliance would stick together and warned Russia not to think about expanding its invasion beyond Ukraine.
Poland and old Eastern Bloc countries such as Latvia and Estonia are concerned that Putin’s ambitions could lead to their borders. But Biden has made it clear that NATO will protect its member countries and abide by Article 5, which says that if one is hit, everyone will answer.
“Don’t even think about moving an inch of NATO territory. We have sacred obligations,” Biden said.
Biden mentioned his own conversations with Putin before the Russian invasion late last month.
He said that Putin “said repeatedly that he was not interested in a war and guaranteed that he would not move.”
“There is simply no justification or provocation for Russia’s choice of war.
President Biden takes the stage to give a speech at the Royal Castle in Warsaw.
President Joe Biden boards Air Force One and returns to Washington.
Polish President Andrzej Duda listens to President Joe Biden’s speech on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the Royal Castle.
But Putin and Russia met each of the proposals with indifference. “Russia has been prone to violence from the very beginning,” he said.
After days of diplomacy and quiet meetings with influencers in Warsaw and Brussels, the White House prepared a speech in which Biden could outline what is at stake as the US and its allies rush to arm Ukraine.
Biden said the war was already a “strategic failure for Russia,” referring to its losses on the battlefield.
“He, Putin, thought that the Ukrainians would turn over and not fight. Doesn’t study history very well. Instead, Russian forces met with a worthy confrontation,” he said in his speech, referring to Pope John Paul II, the siege of Stalingrad and Lech Walesa.
Despite Putin’s goals, “the West is not stronger and more united than ever,” Biden said, pointing to the international backlash, Biden said.
“The world’s democracies are resurgent,” Biden said.
An evolving story, to be continued.