WARSAW, Poland (AP) – President Joe Biden voiced strong and highly personal condemnation of Russian Vladimir Putin on Saturday, calling for liberal democracy and lasting determination among Western nations against a brutal dictator.
As he completes a four-day trip to Europe, a mix of moving scenes with refugees and standing among other world leaders in large circles, Biden said of Putin: “For God’s sake, this man can not stay in power.” .
It was a dramatic escalation of rhetoric – Biden had earlier called Putin a “butcher” – that the White House quickly fell behind.  Before Biden could board Air Force One to begin the return flight to Washington, his aides said he was not seeking an immediate change of government in Moscow.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov quickly denounced Biden, saying “it is not up to the US president and the Americans to decide who will stay in power in Russia.”
As Biden’s raw language made headlines, in other parts of his speech about 30 minutes before Warsaw’s iconic Royal Castle, he urged Western allies to prepare for what would be a tumultuous road ahead of a “new battle for freedom”. ».
He also strongly warned Putin not to invade even “an inch” into the territory of a NATO nation.
The speech was a heavy book on a European visit during which Biden met with NATO and other Western leaders, visited the front lines of the growing refugee crisis and even held a young Ukrainian in his arms as he tried to show off some of his huge tentacles. .  of the conflict that is likely to determine his presidency.
“We must remain united today and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, for years and decades to come.  “It will not be easy,” Biden said, as Russia continued to pound several Ukrainian cities.  “There will be costs, but the price we have to pay, because the darkness that leads to totalitarianism ultimately does not match the flame of freedom that illuminates the souls of free people everywhere.”
Biden also argued that multilateral institutions such as NATO are more important than ever if the West and its allies are to successfully repel authoritarians like Putin.
During his presidential campaign, Biden often spoke of the battle for supremacy between democracies and totalitarian regimes.  In those moments his words seemed abstract.  Now, they have an urgent impact.
Europe is in the throes of a crisis that has left almost all of Europe rethinking defense spending, energy policy and more, just like the US
Charles Kupchan, who served as senior director of European affairs at the White House National Security Council during the Obama administration, described the invasion as a “game changer” that left Atlantic democracies “with no choice”. to strengthen their stance against Russia.
But the road ahead for Biden – and the West – will become more complicated, Kupchan said.
“The challenges facing Biden’s presidency have just grown,” said Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.  “It must now lead the West in its efforts to protect the West from the pressing external threat posed by Russia.  “And it must continue to strengthen the West from within in the face of unfree populism that remains an internal threat to democratic societies on both sides of the Atlantic.”
In one of the most painful moments of his trip, Biden on Saturday bent down and picked up a young girl, a Ukrainian refugee in a pink winter coat, and talked about how she reminded him of his granddaughters.
“I do not speak Ukrainian, but tell her I want to take her home,” Biden asked a translator to tell the smiling child.
Hours later, Biden found himself in front of a crowd of 1,000 – including recent Ukrainian refugees – at the Royal Castle, a Warsaw landmark dating back more than 400 years and severely damaged in World War II.  He made it clear that the West would need to defend itself for a long and difficult battle.
“We have to commit now, to be this fight for a long time,” Biden said.
The Biden government, which has been selective in attaching too much importance to any individual political speech, has sought to highlight what White House officials have described as keynote speeches.  Biden spoke to the Grand Palace behind him in an invited audience – one larger than any he has spoken to during his presidency.
He singled out Lech Walesa, the Polish labor leader who led the push for freedom in his country and was eventually elected president, and linked the moment to the history of violent repression of the former Soviet Union, including post-World War II military operations. .  eliminate pro-democracy movements in Hungary, Poland and then-Czechoslovakia.  And he urged Europe to listen to the words of Pope John Paul II, the first pontiff from Poland: “Do not be afraid.”
Biden’s trip reaffirmed the importance of European alliances, which were developed under former President Donald Trump.  He worked with his counterparts to impose a series of sanctions on Russia and set the continent on a course that could eliminate its dependence on Russian energy in the years to come.
The collective response to the invasion of Ukraine has little parallel in recent history, which is characterized more by widening divisions than by close coordination.  But the Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed that, with European nations stepping up their defense spending and imposing overwhelming sanctions on Moscow, and some taking initial steps to divert their energy needs away from Russia.
“I am convinced that Vladimir Putin was based on the division of NATO,” Biden said during a meeting with Polish President Andrei Duda on Friday.  “But he didn “t make it.  We all stayed together. “
Maintaining such unity is likely to prove difficult as the war continues and the refugee situation could become a source of pressure.  As NATO is committed to the collective defense of each member, Biden said, other nations should share the burden of caring for Ukrainian refugees.  To this end, the US government has announced that it will accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees in the United States this year.
“It should be the whole responsibility of NATO,” he told Duda, whose country has received about 2.2 million of the 3.7 million who have left Ukraine.  It is not clear how many of these displaced Ukrainians who have passed through Poland have now moved to other nations.
There is also no clear way to end the conflict.  Although Russian officials have suggested they focus on invading Donbass, a region in eastern Ukraine, Biden was not so sure if there was a real change in progress.
Asked on Saturday if the Russians had changed their strategy, he told reporters: “I’m not sure they have changed.”
Despite the future dangers, Biden insisted that there was more reason to hope that the West and Ukraine could finally succeed.
“A dictator who wants to rebuild an empire will never erase a people’s love of freedom,” Biden said.  “Barbarism will never stifle their desire to be free.  “Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia, because free people refuse to live in a world of despair and darkness.”