White House clarifies Biden’s comment on Putin

POLAND, RUSSIA, QATAR: The White House clarified US President Joe Biden’s declaration that Russia’s Vladimir Putin “can not remain in power” was not a call for regime change. On Saturday, Biden escalated his rhetoric against Putin as he apparently called for the Russian leader’s removal because of his invasion of Ukraine.

“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden’s said at end of a speech in Poland’s capital as the US President capped his four-day trip to Europe.

A White House official clarified saying, “The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbours or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.”

The official added that Biden’s line was not in his prepared remarks in which the US President said that Putin is lying in a bid to justify the war.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin dismissed a remark by U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday that Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power,” saying it was up to Russians to choose their own president.

Asked about Biden’s comment, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters: “That’s not for Biden to decide. The President of Russia is elected by Russians.”

Last week the Kremlin accused Biden of making “personal insults” towards Putin after he labelled him a “war criminal” and a “murderous dictator”, and said his remarks appeared to have been fuelled by irritation, fatigue and forgetfulness.

Meanwhile, Russia’s “bragging” about its nuclear weapons is fuelling a dangerous arms race, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Doha Forum on Saturday.

Zelensky also called on Qatar, which organises the annual meeting of international political and business leaders, to increase production of natural gas to counter Russian efforts to use energy as a weapon.

“They are bragging that they can destroy with nuclear weapons not only a certain country but the entire planet,” Zelensky said in a live video message to the forum on the 31st day of the Russian military assault against his country.

When Ukraine dismantled its nuclear stockpile in the 1990s it was given “security assurances from the most powerful countries in the world”, including Russia, he said in comments translated into English for the conference.

– THE HINDUSTAN TIMES, THE MALAY MAIL