Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other aides tried to walk back the comment, saying Biden wasn’t trying to promote regime in Russia
- Binken said Biden was referring to Putin’s power in the region, not calling for regime change
- Analysts warn that Biden’s comment could hurt efforts to get Putin to the negotiating table
- Biden sought to appeal to ordinary Russians, telling them: “This war is not worthy of you.”
After four days of alliance building, emotional interactions with refugees and words about the need to fight for democracy, one sentence at the end of President Joe Biden’s speech in Poland threatened to overshadow all of it as he deals with the most significant foreign policy crisis of his presidency.