Biden says his ‘moral outrage’ at Putin does not signal a U.S. policy shift

U.S. President Joe Biden announces his budget proposal for fiscal year 2023, as Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young listens in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 28, 2022.

President Joe Biden said on Monday that his statement that Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot remain in power does not reflect a policy shift by the United States.

Biden spoke at the White House two days after he shocked the world and his closest aides when he ad-libbed the line during a major speech in Poland. A flurry of headlines said Biden was calling for a regime change in Russia.

Despite the uproar, Biden stood by his original statement.

I expressed the moral outrage I felt after visiting with Ukrainian refugees.

Biden said that he was not then and that he is not now.

Putin shouldn't stay in power because bad people shouldn't do bad things.

The way to deal with this kind of behavior is to strengthen and keep NATO united, that's what Biden said.

Biden's explanation will likely help to smooth ruffled feathers among European leaders, who complained that Biden's remark risked escalating a broader war between Putin and the West.

Biden had previously labeled Putin a murderer, a war criminal and a dictator.

The president had stopped short of calling for Putin's removal.

Biden said at the end of his speech in Poland that a dictator will never erase the people's love for liberty.

Biden said that the man cannot remain in power.

Both the White House and the president's top diplomat tried to downplay the significance of Biden's remark on Sunday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted that the U.S. government does not see a regime change in Russia, and that Biden simply meant that Putin cannot be allowed to wage war in Europe.

We do not have a strategy of regime change in Russia, or anywhere else, for that matter, according to Tony Blinken.