First change: 03/27/2022 – 20:52 Last change: 03/27/2022 – 20:50
WASHINGTON (AFP) – By declaring to everyone’s surprise on Saturday that Vladimir Putin “cannot stay in power,” Joe Biden blurred the message of his European tour, which was designed to show allies’ unity against Russia and contain the conflict in Ukraine.
“For heaven’s sake, this man can’t stay in power,” said the US President in Warsaw, who had called his Russian counterpart a “butcher” a few hours earlier.
Those comments, at the end of a 27-minute speech in which he weighed every word to prevent an escalation of tensions on NATO’s eastern flank, surprised those close to the president as they appeared to mark a turning point in recent US foreign policy Policy of not demanding regime change in the world.
“What the President wanted to say is that Putin must not exercise any power over his neighbors or the region,” the White House said minutes later. “He wasn’t talking about Putin’s power in Russia or regime change.”
On Sunday, it was the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, who tried to clarify Biden’s statements. The President wanted to emphasize that “Putin must not be allowed to start a war or aggression against Ukraine or any other country,” he said.
US President Joe Biden during a meeting with his Polish counterpart in Warsaw March 26, 2022 Brendan Smialowski AFP
“As you have heard us repeatedly, we do not have a regime change strategy in Russia or anywhere else.”
The choice of the Russian leader “is up to the Russians,” Blinken said.
But bad things were done.
French President Emmanuel Macron warned of “an escalation of words and deeds in Ukraine”.
“I would not use such terms because I am still speaking to President Putin,” Macron said on Sunday. “We want to end the war that Russia started in Ukraine without going to war. That is the goal.”
“Big mistake”
Several US lawmakers and experts found this statement by Biden counterproductive at a time when Washington’s entire strategy is to prevent Vladimir Putin from feeling “provoked” and to expand the conflict beyond Ukraine, at the risk of a direct one , possible nuclear confrontation with the United States States and their NATO allies.
U.S. President Joe Biden boards Air Force One March 25, 2022 in Rzeszow, Poland Brendan Smialowski AFP
Republican Sen. Jim Risch said Biden’s speech, delivered at the end of an emotional day in Poland that included a meeting with Ukrainian refugees, was a “good speech.” “But in the end there was a big mistake,” he added on CNN television on Sunday.
“This government has made great efforts to prevent an escalation. There’s not much more that can be done to escalate than to call for regime change,” he said.
For former US diplomat Richard Haass, Vladimir “Putin will see this as confirmation of what he believed in from the start.” Biden “made a difficult situation even more difficult and a dangerous situation even more dangerous,” said Haass, who chairs the think tank Council on Foreign Relations.
US President at a meeting with Ukrainian refugees in Poland March 26, 2022 Brendan Smialowski AFP
Others judged that the US President’s words should be taken with nuance.
Biden “spoke what billions of people around the world and millions in Russia think,” tweeted former US Ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul. “He didn’t say the United States should remove him from power. There is a difference.”
François Heisbourg of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said neither Biden’s comments nor Antony Blinken’s efforts to correct them were constructive.
“People always talk too much,” Heisbourg tweeted. “Why do Joe and Tony feel the need to vent when they shouldn’t at this point in the war?” he asked.
© 2022 AFP