Joe Biden.Photo: Anna Voitenko/Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty
U.S. officials took to the Sunday morning shows and fanned out across major news outlets to clarify and clean up a remarkJoe Bidenmade last week — insisting that, despite what the president had seemed to suggest, the administration was not backing regime change in Russia.
In a speech delivered in Poland on Saturday, 79-year-old Biden immediately grabbed headlines when he said, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” referring to Russian PresidentVladimir Putin.
The White House has sincedownplayed the comment, with one official telling CNN: “The president’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.”
In a a news conference in Jerusalem on Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated that the U.S. does “not have a strategy of regime changein Russia, or anywhere else for that matter.”
“In this case, as in any case, it’s up to the people of the country in question,” Blinken said. “It’s up to the Russian people.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin.RUSSIAN PRESIDENT PRESS SERVICE/HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Idaho Sen. Jim Risch — who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee — urged Biden to “stay on script,” tellingState of the Union:“The administration has done everything they can to stop escalating — there’s not a whole lot more you can do to escalate than to call for a regime change.”
Since Russia invaded Ukraine late last month, the U.S., much of Europe and many other countries have united in denouncing the attack and implementing various restrictions on Russian officials while pledging aid to Ukraine.
However, the U.S. has taken pains to say it would not become directly involved in the conflict, believing that would risk widening the fight to other countries.
Biden has previously described the Russian autocratas a “killer"who does “not have a soul.”
More than 3 million Ukrainians have also fled in the fighting, the United Nations says.
source: people.com
