“For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” US President Joe Biden said about his Russian counterpart President Vladimir Putin during a speech in Poland’s capital Warsaw on Saturday.
This was quickly followed by the White House saying Biden wasn’t calling for regime change, but was instead making a point about Putin not being allowed to exercise power over his neighbours.
This was clearly an attempt at rolling back – the concern is that this is going to put more pressure on Putin and make him more uneasy.
Given that he is the head of a country that is struggling militarily, and is in control of a nuclear arsenal, the concern on the Americans’ part is that they don’t want to back Putin into a corner.
Calling out for regime change directly could cause instability and increase unpredictability.
And the last thing you want in these circumstances is unpredictability.
