Coming up on ‘Fox News Sunday’: March 27th
US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith joins Fox News Sunday to discuss concerns about Russia’s long-term goals amid the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
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US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith said Sunday that the US “has no policy of regime change towards Russia” and that President Biden was speaking “at the moment” he said otherwise during a speech in Poland on Saturday seemed to signal.
The Biden administration was forced to retract statements by the president in Warsaw that appeared to call for regime change in Russia, declaring that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power.”
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“For God’s sake, this man can’t stay in power,” Biden declared.
President Biden delivers a speech at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland on Saturday, March 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Smith said in an appearance on Fox News Sunday that Biden had “a very moving day” after meeting hundreds of Ukrainian refugees and that, contrary to his statements, the US was not seeking regime change in Moscow.
“Let me be clear and upfront that the US does not have a regime change policy towards Russia,” Smith said. “But I think we can all agree that President Putin cannot be authorized to wage war. He attacked Ukraine in a deliberate, unprovoked conflict and is continuing this relentless and brutal war in Ukraine that we all want to see come to an end.”
Julianne Smith (L) and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) arrive at NATO Headquarters in Brussels March 24, 2022 ahead of an extraordinary NATO summit. (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)
Smith made similar comments during a previous appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, saying Biden is speaking “at the moment.”
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“Right now, I think that was a principled human reaction to the stories he heard that day,” she said. “But no, as you have heard from Minister Blinken and others, the US does not have a regime change policy in Russia. Point.”
Blinken clarified Biden’s comments earlier Sunday, telling reporters that “we don’t have a strategy for regime change in Russia — or anywhere else for that matter.”