President Biden’s impassioned demand that Russian President Vladimir Putin step down for starting the war in Ukraine — the climax of an emotional address in Poland over the weekend — is not getting much support so far from the allies Mr. Biden is trying to unify in support of Kyiv.
French President Emmanuel Macron and senior British and Turkish officials all distanced themselves from Mr. Biden’s remarks, which foreign policy analysts said could complicate the drive to end Russia’s bloody invasion by making Mr. Putin’s status an explicit aim of the war.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a Sunday visit to Israel became the latest to U.S. official to try to clarify Mr. Biden’s speech and insist Washington is not now insisting on “regime change” in the Kremlin.
In a line White House officials said was not part of the president’s prepared text, Mr. Biden at the end of a speech capping a four-day trip to Europe condemned Russia’s month-old attack on Ukraine, called Mr. Putin a “butcher” and said of the Russian leader, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”
But Mr. Macron, who has kept up contact with Mr. Putin even as the fighting rages, said Sunday, “I would not use those terms.”
In an interview with the France 3 broadcasting network, Mr. Macron said now is not the time to ratchet up tensions as Ukraine and its allies push for a halt to the fighting and a diplomatic resolution.
Mr. Macron said he would continue to speak directly with Mr. Putin and is focused on “achieving first a cease-fire and then the total withdrawal of [Russian] troops by diplomatic means. If we want to do that, we can’t escalate either in words or actions.”
While some have praised Mr. Biden for stating the moral stakes in the fight so clearly, British Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi was one of a number of European officials who said that such harsh rhetoric could backfire by pushing Mr. Putin into a corner and that the question of Russia’s leadership is better left for the Russians to work out.
“I think that’s up to the Russian people,” Mr. Zawahi told Sky News. “The Russian people, I think, are pretty fed up with what is happening in Ukraine, this illegal invasion, the destruction of their own livelihoods, their economy is collapsing around them and I think the Russian people will decide the fate of Putin and his cronies.”
Turkey, a NATO member which has offered to mediate the fight between Kyiv and Moscow, also warned that focusing on removing Mr. Putin only complicates the effort to stop the war.
“If everybody burns bridges with Russia, then who is going to talk to them at the end of the day?” Ibrahim Kalin, an adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told an international forum in Doha, according to the Guardian newspaper.
Mr. Blinken said Sunday that, despite the president’s words, Washington is not now demanding Mr. Putin be overthrown.
He said on a visit to Jerusalem after accompanying the president across Europe that the administration has said repeatedly that “we do not have a strategy of regime change in Russia, or anywhere else for that matter.”
“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,” Mr. Blinken told reporters, according to The Associated Press.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.