U.S. envoy to NATO: No American policy of regime change in Russia (updated)

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27/03/2022 15:20

(Adds comments, background)
    By Phil Stewart and Brendan O'Brien
    WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. envoy to NATO said
on Sunday that the United States does not have a policy of
regime change in Russia, in the latest effort to clarify
President Joe Biden's statement that Russian President Vladimir
Putin "cannot remain in power."
    Julianne Smith sought to contextualize Biden's remarks in
Poland on Saturday, saying they followed a day of speaking with
Ukrainian refugees. Russia's month-old invasion has driven a
quarter of Ukraine's population of 44 million from their homes.
    "In the moment, I think that was a principled human reaction
to the stories that he had heard that day," Smith told CNN's
"State of the Union" program before adding: "The U.S. does not
have a policy of regime change in Russia. Full stop."
    Biden's comments in Poland also included a statement earlier
on Saturday calling Putin a "butcher," and appeared to be a
sharp escalation of the U.S. approach to Moscow over its
invasion of Ukraine. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2VT06C
    Senator James Risch, the top Republican on the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, called Biden's remarks a
"horrendous gaff" and said he wished the president would have
stayed on script. 
    "Most people who don't deal in the lane of foreign relations
don't realize those nine words that he uttered would cause the
kind of eruption that they did," he told CNN. 
    "It's going to cause a huge problem."
    Senator Cory Booker, one of Biden's fellow Democrats and a 
member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told the "Meet the
Press" program on NBC News that although regime change was not
the U.S. policy, he didn't see Ukraine's war ending well for
Putin.
    "I don't see a real victory for him. His country is
suffering extraordinarily. He is depleting critical resources
from his own nation for this awful war. So I just don't see how
this ends well for him," Booker said.
    The United States has avoided direct military involvement in
Ukraine, instead joining NATO allies in speeding weapons
deliveries to Ukrainian forces to help them thwart Russia's
advance.
    After more than four weeks of fighting, Russia has failed to
seize any major Ukrainian city and the conflict has killed
thousands of people, sent nearly 3.8 million abroad and driven
more than half of Ukraine's children from their homes, according
to the United Nations.

 (Reporting by Phil Stewart and Brendan O'Brien; editing by
Diane Craft and Paul Simao)
 ((phillip.stewart@thomsonreuters.com; 1-202-898-8398; Reuters
Messaging: phillip.stewart.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))