"But it doesn’t mean we have a fundamental policy to do anything to take Putin down in any way," the president told reporters.
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden 46th President of the U.S, on Monday stood by his weekend comment that Russian President Vladimir Putin can't remain in power. He was expressing his "moral outrage," not signaling a policy change.
"I was expressing my outrage. He shouldn’t remain in power, just like bad people shouldn’t continue to do bad things. But it doesn’t mean we have a fundamental policy to do anything to take Putin down in any way," Biden told reporters. "I’m not walking anything back," and "The fact of the matter is, I was expressing the moral outrage I felt toward the way Putin is dealing and the actions of this man, which is just brutality."
The comment came in as a to concern raised over an ad-libbed line in remarks from Poland on Saturday. Which he seemed to suggest he was pushing for change in Russia. “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” he said and then he was referring to Putin.
The White House issued a statement shortly after the speech that said “not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change” but rather saying Putin “cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region.”
Biden said he didn't believe the comment would complicate or escalate the conflict in Ukraine, or that it could affect Putin's actions.
But the comment has been seen by some world leaders, officials and experts as a risky and escalatory move and feeding into the Kremlin’s years of accusations.
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