Biden’s off-the-cuff remark on Putin sends shock waves on dramatic final day of
The target hardly seemed coincidental. Biden was 250 miles away, visiting Ukrainian refugees in bitter cold at Poland’s national stadium. He heard pleas from young mothers to pray for the men — husbands, fathers, brothers — they had left behind.
“We Ukrainian mothers are ready to strangle (Putin) with our bare hands,” said a woman whose son remained to fight. Gathering up a small girl wearing a pink coat and pigtails, Biden told her he wanted to take her home.
Gathered backstage at the castle, White House officials hastily issued a clarification — one of several on this trip alone — to say Biden wasn’t calling for regime change. But not before the Kremlin issued its own affronted response, saying Russia’s ruler is “not to be decided by Mr. Biden.”
The administration’s downplaying of Biden’s remark continued Sunday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying from Israel, “I think the President, the White House, made the point last night that, quite simply, President Putin cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against Ukraine or anyone else.”
Biden’s view of Putin had been growing increasingly dark over the past month, according to officials, and his language has sharpened in describing a “pure thug,” “murderous dictator,” “war criminal” and, after visiting refugees at the stadium, a “butcher.”
His aides have said Biden has been hoping to avoid the Cold War, Washington versus Moscow dynamic he believes Putin desires. Instead, he left Europe more directly at odds with the Russian leader than ever.
Whether that was his intention seemed unclear. The clarification the White House issued was at least the third time on Biden’s trip a White House official felt obliged to clean up remarks the President made that appeared, on their own, startling.
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