Biden confirms that he did not call for regime change in Russia

US President Joe Biden said he is not calling for regime change in Russia, after he was quoted by the media as saying on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin could not remain in power.

A reporter asked Biden as he emerged from a church in Washington if he advocated regime change in Russia, to which Biden replied, "No."

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's press secretary, had announced that it was not for US President Joe Biden to decide who would be in power in Russia, and that only the Russians would choose their president.

"For God's sake, this man cannot stay in power," Biden said in a speech in Warsaw on Saturday, without mentioning the Russian president by name, although he did so at several other points during his speech.

Shortly thereafter, a senior White House official sought to make clear that the US president's comments were not a direct call for Putin's ouster.

"The president's view was that Putin could not be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region," the official said.

He wasn't discussing Putin's power in Russia, or regime change."

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