Biden’s 'Putin cannot remain in power' remark pushes US-Russia relations to brink of collapse

The White House and Congressional Democrats have been forced into damage control as President Joe Biden’s unscripted remark declaring that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, “cannot remain in power” threatens to bring the already strained US-Russia relations closer to collapse.

The remark, an off-the-cuff peroration to an impassioned speech in Poland, triggered an international political firestorm, lending further credence to deep-seated suspicions in Moscow about Washington’s intentions.

“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said in Warsaw on Saturday, capping earlier statements in which he had called Putin a “killer,” “butcher” and “war criminal” over the military offensive in Ukraine.

“Putin has been paranoid about the West seeking ‘regime change’ against his government for a long time,” Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador in Moscow, told the Washington Post.

Back in Washington Sunday evening, Biden said he was not calling for regime change in Russia -- echoing a message that administration officials have been peddling in a frantic attempt to prevent further escalation of the already dangerously high tensions.

A White House official said in a statement, “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.”

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US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith on Sunday appeared to contradict President Joe Biden’s comment that Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot remain in power,

Fellow Democrats also took to Sunday news programs to provide clarity on the incendiary line, which has unleashed a torrent of criticism from Republicans who have found themselves walking a tightrope of chastising both Biden and the Russian leader.

Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, said, “The president was speaking from his heart,” and that “it is not US policy to see regime change” in Russia.

There is "no support in the Democratic Congress for regime change,” he said on "Fox News Sunday," suggesting that Biden must have been “frustrated” after having met with Ukrainian refugees following a series of diplomatic summits in Europe.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, echoed the same sentiment, declaring, “The position of the United States government is not to send troops there. It is to give all the aid we can to Ukraine."

Foreign policy analysts, however, believe that the Biden administration’s attempt at damage control would do little to assuage concerns in Moscow as presidential statements have traditionally been taken as official policy.

“It exacerbates existing threat perceptions regarding US intentions,” Samuel Charap, a Russia expert at Rand Corp., told the Washington Post. “They might just be much more inclined to do hostile things in response even more than they already are. That is the challenge.”

Republicans seized the chance to castigate the Democratic president, including Senator Rob Portman, who called his remark a "mistake."

“I think all of us believe the world would be a better place without Vladimir Putin,” the Republican from Ohio said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “But second, that’s not the official US policy, and by saying that, that regime change is our strategy, effectively, it plays into the hands of the Russian propagandists and plays into the hands of Vladimir Putin."

Senator James Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Biden’s comment was a "horrendous gaffe," urging the president to "stay on script."

Biden’s speech in Warsaw, which was designed to bolster Western resolve and prepare European allies for a prolonged campaign of pressure against Russia, followed a series of US actions that have further antagonized Moscow, including unprecedented economic sanctions and more than $2 billion in military aid to Ukraine this month.

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US President Joe Biden has met with Ukrainian ministers in the Polish capital city amid Washington

The fiery line prompted a swift response from the Kremlin, overshadowing the Biden administration’s efforts to cast the Ukraine conflict as a battle in the broader fight for democracy. “That’s not for Biden to decide. The president of Russia is elected by Russians,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday. 

Peskov again told reporters on Monday that Biden's statement is "certainly alarming."

In recent weeks, the Kremlin has retaliated against Washington in a series of tit-for-tat diplomatic maneuverings, including notifying the State Department that it was expelling an additional tranche of US diplomats from Moscow.

Throwing out the remaining American diplomats, a move that would essentially force the US mission in Moscow to close, would mark a new diplomatic low in bilateral relations that was avoided even at the height of tensions during the Cold War.

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