South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Biden: Putin ‘cannot remain in power’
Comment not a call for change in Russia, White House says
WARSAW, Poland — President Joe Biden said Saturday that Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power,” dramatically escalating the rhetoric against the Russian leader after his brutal invasion of Ukraine.
The White House attempted to clarify soon after Biden finished speaking in Poland that he was not calling for a new government in Russia.
A White House official asserted that Biden was “not discussing Putin’s power in Russia or regime change.” The official, who was not authorized to comment by name and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Biden’s point was that “Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region.”
The White House declined to comment on whether Biden’s statement about Putin was part of his prepared remarks.
“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden’s said at the end of a speech in Poland’s capital that served as the capstone on a four-day trip to Europe.
Biden has frequently talked about ensuring that the Kremlin’s invasion, now in its second month, becomes a “strategic failure” for Putin and has described the Russian leader as a “war criminal.” But until his remarks in Warsaw,
the American leader had not veered toward suggesting Putin should not run Russia. EarlierSaturday,shortlyafter meeting with Ukrainian refugees, Biden called Putin a “butcher.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “it’s not up to the president of the U.S. and not up to the Americans to decide who will remain in power in Russia.”
Asked about the impact of such statements from Biden on Russia-U.S. relations, Peskov described it as “extremely negative.” “With each such statement, and Biden now prefers to make them daily, he is narrowing the window of opportunity
for our bilateral relations under the current administration,” Peskov said.
Biden also used his speech to make a vociferous defense of liberal democracy and NATO, while saying Europe must steel itself for a long fight against Russian aggression. In what was billed by the White House as a major address, Biden spoke inside the Royal Castle, one of Warsaw’s notable landmarks that was badly damaged during World War II.
He borrowed the words of Polish-born Pope John Paul II and cited anti-communist Polish dissident and former president, Lech Walesa, as he
warned that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine threatens to bring “decades of war.”
“In this battle we need to be clear-eyed. This battle will not be won in days, or months, either,” Biden said.
The crowd of about 1,000 included some of the Ukrainian refugees who have fled for Poland and elsewhere in the midst of the brutal invasion.
“We must commit now, to be in this fight for the long haul,” Biden said.
After meeting with refugees at the National Stadium, Biden marveled at their spirit and resolve in the aftermath of Russia’s deadly invasion as he embraced mothers and children and promised enduring support from Western powers.
Biden listened intently as children described the perilous flight from neighboring Ukraine with their parents.
The president held hands with parents and gave them hugs during the stop at the soccer stadium where refugees go to obtain a Polish identification number that gives them access to social services.
Some of the women and children told Biden that they fled without their husbands and fathers, men of fighting age who were required to remain behind to aid the resistance against Putin.
“What I am always surprised by is the depth and strength of the human spirit,” Biden told reporters after his conversations with the refugees at the stadium, which more recently had served as a field hospital for COVID-19 patients. “Each one of those children said something to the effect of, ‘Say a prayer’ for my dad or grandfather or my brother who is out there fighting.”
The president tried to use his final hours of his European trip reassuring Poland that the United States would defend against any attacks by Russia as he acknowledged that the NATO ally bore the burden of the refugee crisis from the war.
“Your freedom is ours,” Biden told Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda earlier, echoing one of that country’s unofficial mottos.
More than 3.7 million people have fled Ukraine since the war began, and more than 2.2 million Ukrainians have crossed into Poland, though it is unclear how many have remained there and how many have left for other countries. Earlier this week the U.S. announced it would take in as many as 100,000 refugees, and Biden told Duda that he understood Poland was “taking on a big responsibility, but it should be all of NATO’s responsibility.”
Biden called the “collective defense” agreement of NATO a “sacred commitment,” and said the unity of the alliance was of the utmost importance.
“I’m confident that Vladimir Putin was counting on dividing NATO,” Biden said. “But he hasn’t been able to do it.”