Russia anger over Biden comments on ‘butcher’ Putin’s future
- President Biden ended Saturday speech by saying ‘this man cannot remain in power’; White House later said it was not a call for Putin’s overthrow
- While Moscow hit back, the US repeated on Sunday that it does not have a strategy of regime change in Russia
US President Joe Biden’s comment that Russian leader Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” continued to generate outrage in Moscow on Sunday.
Prominent Russian Senator Konstantin Kosachev, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in parliament’s upper house, claimed Biden made statements with “frightening regularity” that are worse than crimes.
There had been times in the past when the word of a US president carried weight but that was over, he said.
The remark was interpreted as a dramatic shift in US foreign policy, with Biden seeming to suggest regime change was necessary in Russia.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov quickly hit back, saying: “That’s not for Biden to decide. The president of Russia is elected by Russians.”
As Biden’s words ricocheted around the world, the White House clarified that the president’s remarks were not a direct call for Putin’s overthrow.