US President Joe Biden said on Saturday March 26 in Warsaw that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin should not stay in power after launching the invasion in Ukraine. 

"For the love of God, this man cannot stay in power," said Joe Biden, during a speech at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, with a particularly harsh tone towards Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The White House clarified that Joe Biden, by these words, is not asking for regime change in Russia but believes that Vladimir "Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region".

Pass of arms between the Kremlin and Washington 

"He wasn't talking about Putin's power in Russia or about regime change," a US presidential official said.

Asked about this, a Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskova, replied: "It's not for Biden to decide. The president of Russia is elected by the Russians."

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Speaking directly to the Russians, he insisted that it is not the Russian people that he sees as the enemy.

"Let me say this if you are able to hear me - you, the Russian people, are not our enemy," he said. 

"I refuse to believe that you welcome the murder of innocent children and grandparents or that you accept that hospitals, schools, maternities are pounded by Russian missiles and bombs."

"This war is not worthy of you"

"This war is not worthy of you, Russian people. Putin can and must put an end to this war", hammered again the American president.

But at the same time, he felt that the conflict was not going to end quickly.

The battle "between democracy and autocracy" will "not be won in a few days or months. We must arm ourselves for a long fight ahead of us", he warned, before assuring the Ukrainians: "We we are on your side".

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He also reaffirmed that the United States did not want to come into conflict with the Russian forces that invaded Ukraine, but he issued a strong warning to Moscow: "Don't even think about advancing an inch in of NATO".

“This war is already a strategic failure for Russia”, added Joe Biden, who, applauded by some thousand people who attended his speech in front of the royal castle in Warsaw, immediately left for the airport, in front of return to Washington at night.

With AFP

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