Post by Atticus Pizzaballa on Mar 26, 2022 15:35:16 GMT -5
Biden says Putin 'cannot remain in power'
Warsaw, Poland (CNN)President Joe Biden declared forcefully Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin should no longer remain in power, an unabashed challenge that came at the very end of a swing through Europe meant to reinforce Western unity.
"For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power," Biden announced at the conclusion of a capstone address delivered in the cold outside the Royal Castle in Warsaw.
The White House afterward downplayed the remark: "The President's point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region," a White House official said. "He was not discussing Putin's power in Russia, or regime change."
The line was not in Biden's prepared remarks, a separate White House official said.
But his remark was already reverberating as Biden departed Poland to return home to Washington after his last-minute trip to attend snap summits in Brussels and to reassure allies along NATO's eastern edge.
It was the furthest he had gone in calling for changes atop Russia's government and reflected a significant escalation in his rhetorical approach to Moscow. US officials had said previously said removing Putin from power was not their goal.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to Biden, saying, "This is not to be decided by Mr. Biden. It should only be a choice of the people of the Russian Federation."
In his speech, which drew a sharp line between liberal democracies and the type of autocracy Putin oversees, Biden warned of a long fight ahead.
"In this battle we need to be clear-eyed. This battle will not be won in days, or months, either," he said.
Just before Biden was set to speak in Poland, an airstrike struck a fuel depot just outside Lviv, Ukraine -- about 200 miles away from where the President would speak. The strike caused billowing smoke and flames to rise above the western Ukrainian city, which had largely been seen as a safe haven during the war given its distance from the Russia-Ukraine border.
It was a surprising attack, coming just a day after the Russian military said the first phase of the conflict had ended andthat it was shifting its attention to the disputed eastern parts of Ukraine. After days of Western leaders displaying their united front against Russia, the strike could be seen as a response from Putin and his military to Biden and the West.
Biden, standing along NATO's eastern edge, in Poland, issued a stern warning during his speech, telling Putin: "Don't even think about moving on one single inch of NATO territory." He said the US was committed to the collective protection obligations laid out in NATO's charter "with the full force of our collective power."
But Biden made clear the current conflict in Ukraine -- not a NATO member -- doesn't require America to become directly involved.
"American forces are not in Europe to engage in conflict with Russian forces, American forces are here to defend NATO," he said.
Biden opened his address saying that Ukraine is now a front line battle in the fight between autocracy and democracy, casting Russia's invasion of its neighbor as part of the decades-long battle that has played out between the West and the Kremlin.
"My message to the people of Ukraine is ... we stand with you. Period," said Biden.
www.cnn.com/2022/03/26/politics/biden-warsaw-saturday/index.html
I hope that statement does not push Putin in the direction of the use nuclear weapons
Warsaw, Poland (CNN)President Joe Biden declared forcefully Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin should no longer remain in power, an unabashed challenge that came at the very end of a swing through Europe meant to reinforce Western unity.
"For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power," Biden announced at the conclusion of a capstone address delivered in the cold outside the Royal Castle in Warsaw.
The White House afterward downplayed the remark: "The President's point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region," a White House official said. "He was not discussing Putin's power in Russia, or regime change."
The line was not in Biden's prepared remarks, a separate White House official said.
But his remark was already reverberating as Biden departed Poland to return home to Washington after his last-minute trip to attend snap summits in Brussels and to reassure allies along NATO's eastern edge.
It was the furthest he had gone in calling for changes atop Russia's government and reflected a significant escalation in his rhetorical approach to Moscow. US officials had said previously said removing Putin from power was not their goal.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to Biden, saying, "This is not to be decided by Mr. Biden. It should only be a choice of the people of the Russian Federation."
In his speech, which drew a sharp line between liberal democracies and the type of autocracy Putin oversees, Biden warned of a long fight ahead.
"In this battle we need to be clear-eyed. This battle will not be won in days, or months, either," he said.
Just before Biden was set to speak in Poland, an airstrike struck a fuel depot just outside Lviv, Ukraine -- about 200 miles away from where the President would speak. The strike caused billowing smoke and flames to rise above the western Ukrainian city, which had largely been seen as a safe haven during the war given its distance from the Russia-Ukraine border.
It was a surprising attack, coming just a day after the Russian military said the first phase of the conflict had ended andthat it was shifting its attention to the disputed eastern parts of Ukraine. After days of Western leaders displaying their united front against Russia, the strike could be seen as a response from Putin and his military to Biden and the West.
Biden, standing along NATO's eastern edge, in Poland, issued a stern warning during his speech, telling Putin: "Don't even think about moving on one single inch of NATO territory." He said the US was committed to the collective protection obligations laid out in NATO's charter "with the full force of our collective power."
But Biden made clear the current conflict in Ukraine -- not a NATO member -- doesn't require America to become directly involved.
"American forces are not in Europe to engage in conflict with Russian forces, American forces are here to defend NATO," he said.
Biden opened his address saying that Ukraine is now a front line battle in the fight between autocracy and democracy, casting Russia's invasion of its neighbor as part of the decades-long battle that has played out between the West and the Kremlin.
"My message to the people of Ukraine is ... we stand with you. Period," said Biden.
www.cnn.com/2022/03/26/politics/biden-warsaw-saturday/index.html
I hope that statement does not push Putin in the direction of the use nuclear weapons
