The comment, which came at the end of a two-nation visit to Europe aimed at boosting alliances, was unplanned and surprised assistants watching Biden’s speech on television or at the event. And the words were not something Biden posed as potentially included in his speech – previously, US officials were adamant that a change of government in Moscow was not one of their goals. In closed-door meetings earlier in the week, Biden told fellow NATO leaders he did not want to escalate the West’s confrontation with Russia. However, his advertising line did more to bring him against Putin than anything else so far in the conflict.

“He is a butcher”

People who spoke to Biden before and after the speech described him as “personally affected” after a refugee visit to the Warsaw National Stadium, where his wives asked him to pray for the men – husbands, sons and brothers – who were left behind. to fight. Asked by reporters traveling with the president what seeing the refugees make him think as he confronts Putin on a daily basis, Biden replied: “He is a butcher.” Shortly before the speech, the President was also briefed by officials on a series of rocket attacks on a fuel depot in Lviv, Ukraine, a western city not far from the Polish border. The time did not seem at all accidental as Biden was visiting Warsaw. Despite the Biden administration’s quick departure from comments about Putin’s rule, they hid the rest of Biden’s speech, which focused on reassuring NATO allies that the United States would defend them if Putin pushed further into Europe. White House assistants worked to write the speech for days, including the hours prior to the speech. Biden’s top author, Vinay Reddy, and Mike Donilon, his senior adviser who helped create the President’s long speeches, traveled to Europe with Biden and co-authored the speech.

A pattern appears

The White House said in a statement on Saturday that it was at least the third time that a government official had felt compelled to clarify Biden’s remarks, which in themselves were shocking and misaligned. Welcoming the heroism of the Ukrainians, Biden told US troops: “You will see when you are there” – although he has vowed that US forces will not enter the conflict directly. A spokesman later said nothing had changed: “The president was clear that we were not sending American troops to Ukraine.” And after Biden said he would respond “in kind” to Russia’s use of chemical weapons in Ukraine, Sullivan assured reporters that the United States “has no intention of using the chemical weapons period under any circumstances.” Biden has an established pattern of speaking indifferently, though perhaps never with such high stakes. White House officials said before Biden’s speech that the president was working hard behind the scenes to strengthen cooperation between his counterparts. “He sleeps a lot less on this kind of trip than on other trips, because he just goes, goes, goes – he wants to talk to the next leader; you know, get the next briefing,” Sullivan said in the middle on Friday. of Biden flight. from Brussels to Rzeszów, in southeastern Poland, where he met with American soldiers.

Europe continues to measure its reaction to Biden’s statements

It remains to be seen exactly how observation will affect the conflict. A European diplomat said Biden’s statement would not have a broader impact on the Kremlin’s handling of the war. “(The Russians) will be worried if we start bringing tanks to Ukraine. They will not be interested in that,” the diplomat said. The diplomat also told CNN: “Biden said something many believe.” “In the short term, it may be a little awkward, but it could be a little useful for the Russians to know … In the end, Putin can not stay in power, right? He decided to invade another country and violate everything “the kind of legal agreements he has signed,” they said. A Baltic defense official was delighted to hear Biden comment, saying: “The West should not be afraid to be ambivalent. It would give some people in Russia hope that the regime could change.” “Russia is always ambiguous, it is always blurring the line between war and peace. We also need to exercise more,” he said. A European official whose office spoke to Putin recently said they did not believe Biden’s comments would complicate matters, but it is difficult to say for sure. “At least (we) have not noticed a difference,” the official said. “We should probably see, but so far we have not noticed anything different.”

“I would not use such terms”

Officially, the Kremlin’s response came from spokesman Dmitry Peshkov, who said the fate of the Russian ruler “would not be decided by Biden.” Peshkov later said Monday that the comments “certainly cause concern”, adding: “We will continue to monitor the US President’s statements closely. We will take note of them carefully and we will continue to do so.” “We heard President Biden loud and clear that the United States will help and be with Ukraine in this struggle,” Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova told NBC News’ Meet the Press on Sunday. “We clearly understand in Ukraine that anyone who is a war criminal, attacking a neighboring country, committing all these atrocities together with all the Russians involved, certainly can not remain in power in a civilized world. “Now it’s all up to us to stop Putin.” French President Emmanuel Macron – who said last week that France was “intensifying” work to prevent the escalation of the war in Ukraine but ruled out the immediate involvement of the French army – suggested that Biden’s comments were not helpful. for diplomatic efforts.
“I would not use such terms because I continue to talk to President Putin,” Macron said in an interview with France 3 on Sunday.
“Our goal is to stop the war that Russia has unleashed in Ukraine, while avoiding a war and escalation,” he added. On the home front, Democrats have largely repeated the White House clarification. However, some Republicans criticized the President for his spontaneous comments. As he praised Biden’s speech in Poland, Idaho Sen. Jim Risch, a leading Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN on Sunday: “There was a horrible blunder right at the end. I hope he stays in the script “. “This government has done everything it can to stop the escalation,” Rees said, adding, “There is not much more you can do to escalate than to call for regime change.”
MP Michael McCaul, head of Republicans in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the State of the Union: in that case, it sends a very provocative message to Mr Putin. “ Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman also told the Meet the Press on Sunday that Biden’s observation “plays into the hands of Russian propagandists and plays into the hands of Vladimir Putin,” adding later that “we are at war.” and so clarity is incredibly important. “ CNN’s Sarah Diab, Fred Pleitgen, Sarah Fortinsky and Ali Main contributed to this report.