乔·拜登总统在周一回答了一连串的问题，要求他这样做时，他似乎想两边都做澄清他的评论俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京“不能继续掌权”

他坚持自己的话“表达道德义愤”，但也澄清说，他不是“阐明政策变化。”

拜登——是谁在2004年发表了这一显然没有讲稿的评论周六波兰-周一下午，在公布最新预算提案的活动中接受了记者的提问，其中包括69亿美元用于帮助乌克兰抗击俄罗斯的侵略。

对拜登的第一个问题是:“你相信你说的话，普京不能继续掌权，还是你现在后悔说了这句话?因为你的政府一直试图走回头路，你的话让事情变得复杂了吗?”

帕特里克·斯曼斯基/美联社

2022年3月28日，星期一，在华盛顿特区，美国总统乔·拜登在白宫国宴厅谈论他的2023财年拟议预算，行政管理和预算办公室代理主任沙兰达·杨在听。

“第一，我不会往回走。事实上，我是在表达我对普京处理问题的方式和这个男人的行为感到的道德愤怒——残暴，乌克兰一半的儿童都是如此。我刚刚从那些家庭中走出来，所以-但是我想澄清一下，我当时没有，现在也没有阐明政策的改变。我表达了我感到的道义上的愤慨，对此我不做任何道歉，”拜登说。

拜登接着说，他不认为这一评论会使问题复杂化当代外交。

“事实是，我们现在的情况是，普京继续参与屠杀的升级努力使局势变得更加复杂。那种让全世界都在说‘我的天啊，这个人在做什么?’这让事情变得非常复杂，但我不认为这让一切都变得复杂了。

“我在表达我的愤怒。他不应该继续掌权。就像，你知道，坏人不应该继续做坏事。但这并不意味着我们有一个基本的政策，以任何方式做任何事情来推翻普京，”拜登说。

当美国广播公司(ABC News)驻白宫高级记者玛丽·布鲁斯(Mary Bruce)问及他是否相信普京不会认为他的话具有升级性质时，拜登说，“我不在乎他怎么想。”

“鉴于他的行为，人们应该明白，他打算做他认为他应该做的事，句号。他不受任何人的影响，不幸的是，包括他自己的顾问。这是一个跟着自己的节奏走的人。拜登说:“我认为，因为我对他的过去和现在的所作所为进行指责，他就会做出令人愤慨的事情，这种想法是不合理的。

他告诉另一名记者，与普京的另一次会晤，“取决于他想谈什么。”

当被问及他为什么在结束四天的演讲时发表评论时结盟之旅这不在他的准备好的讲话中，拜登说他正在“直接与俄罗斯人民对话”

“演讲的最后部分是与俄罗斯人民对话，告诉他们我们的想法。我不仅向俄罗斯人民，也向全世界传达了这一信息。这只是在陈述一个简单的事实，这种行为是完全不可接受的。完全不能接受。解决这个问题的方法是加强和保持北约的完全团结，尽我们所能帮助乌克兰。

“没有人相信我们会扳倒，我说的是要扳倒普京，”拜登补充道。“没人相信。”

在进一步追问下，拜登重申，他是在“表达我对这个人的道德义愤”，而“不是在阐述政策变化。”

拜登周日晚上还告诉记者，他并没有要求普京下台，此前白宫和一些民主党人争先恐后地解释说，总统并没有将俄罗斯政权更迭作为一项政策目标。

“总统的观点是，不能允许普京对其邻国或该地区行使权力。他不是在讨论普京在俄罗斯的权力，或者政权更迭，”一名白宫官员在演讲后表示。

美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯(Antony Schmidt)周日表示，“我认为，总统、白宫昨晚明确表示，很简单，普京总统无权对乌克兰或其他任何国家发动战争或发动侵略。”。“正如你听到我们反复说的那样，我们没有在俄罗斯或其他任何地方改变政权的战略。在这种情况下，就像在任何情况下一样，这取决于有关国家的人民。这取决于俄罗斯人民。”

与此同时，普京的盟友似乎将这一评论视为升级言论，其后果可能会破坏外交努力结束战争。

“这不是拜登能决定的。俄罗斯总统是由俄罗斯人选举的，”克里姆林宫发言人克里姆林宫发言人德米特里·佩斯科夫说。

拜登在周末会见了波兰的难民后，还称普京为“屠夫”。

他的语言招致了法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙的指责，他被问及拜登称普京为“屠夫”，并表示他“不能继续掌权”

“我不会使用这些术语，因为我继续与普京总统交谈，”马克龙在一份声明中说法国访谈3。“因为我们想集体做什么?我们希望停止俄罗斯在乌克兰发动的战争，不发动战争，不升级。”

最近的民意调查显示，人们对拜登处理乌克兰问题的方式越来越失望，尽管大多数美国人支持总统采取的具体措施。根据最近的ABC新闻/益普索数据例如，70%的美国人不赞成拜登处理天然气价格，尽管更多的受访者(77%)支持他禁止俄罗斯石油的提议，即使这意味着在加油站支付更多费用。

随着乌克兰战事的恶化，拜登最近几周加大了措辞力度。上个月，他至少两次称俄罗斯总统为“战犯”，并补充说他认为普京“将符合法律定义。”国务院上周宣布俄罗斯军队已经犯了战争罪但没有特别点名普京。

Biden makes 'no apologies' for saying Putin 'cannot remain in power'

President Joe Biden appeared to want to both ways when he fielded a barrage of questions Monday asking him toclarify his commentthat Russian President Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power."

He stood by his words "expressing moral outrage" but also clarified that he wasn't "articulating a policy change."

Biden -- who made the apparently unscripted comment inPoland on Saturday-- took questions from reporters Monday afternoon at an event unveiling his latest budget proposal, which includes $6.9 billion to help Ukraine fight Russian aggression.

The first question to Biden was: "Do you believe what you said, that Putin can't remain in power, or do you now regret saying that? Because your government has been trying to walk that back, did your words complicate matters?"

"Number one, I'm not walking anything back. The fact of the matter is I was expressing the moral outrage I felt toward the way Putin is dealing and the acts of this man just -- brutality, half the children in Ukraine. I had just come from being with those families, and so -- but I want to make it clear, I wasn't then nor am I now articulating a policy change. I was expressing the moral outrage that I feel, and I make no apologies for it," Biden said.

Biden went on to say that he does not think the comment complicates thediplomacy of this moment.

"The fact is that we're in a situation where it complicates the situation at the moment is the escalatory efforts of Putin to continue to engage in carnage. The kind of behavior that makes the whole world say, 'My God, what is this man doing?' That's what complicates things a great deal and -- but I don't think it complicates it all," Biden added.

"I was expressing my outrage. He shouldn't remain in power. Just like, you know, bad people shouldn't continue to do bad things. But it doesn't mean we have a fundamental policy to do anything to take Putin down in any way," Biden said.

Pressed by ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Mary Bruce if he's confident Putin doesn't see his words as escalatory, Biden said, "I don't care what he thinks."

"Given his behavior, people should understand that he is going to do what he thinks he should do, period. He's not affected by anybody else including, unfortunately, his own advisers. This is a guy who goes to the beat of his own drummer. And the idea that he is going to do something outrageous because I called him for what he was and what he's doing, I think is just not rational," Biden said.

He told another reporter that another meeting with Putin, "depends on what he wants to talk about."

Asked why he made the comment closing out his four-dayalliance-building tripthat was not in his prepared remarks, Biden said he was "talking directly to the Russian people."

"The last part of the speech was talking to the Russian people, telling them what we thought. I was communicating this to not only the Russian people but the whole world. This is -- this is just stating a simple fact that this kind of behavior is totally unacceptable. Totally unacceptable. And the way to deal with it is to strengthen and put -- keep NATO completely united and help Ukraine where we can," he said.

"Nobody believes we're going to take down, I was talking gonna go -- about taking down Putin," Biden added. "Nobody believes that."

Pressed further, Biden repeated he was "expressing the moral outrage I felt toward this man" and "wasn't articulating a policy change."

Biden also told reporters Sunday evening he was not calling for Putin's removal from office, after the White House and some Democrats scrambled to explain the president was not endorsing regime change in Russia as a policy goal.

"The president's point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin's power in Russia, or regime change," a White House official said after the speech.

"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," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday. "As you've heard us say repeatedly, we do not have a strategy of regime change in Russia or anywhere else, for that matter. In this case, as in any case, it's up to the people of the country in question. It's up to the Russian people."

Putin's allies, meanwhile, have appeared to take the comment as escalatory rhetoric, and the fallout could underminediplomatic effortsto end the war.

"That's not for Biden to decide. The president of Russia is elected by Russians," said Kremlin spokesperson Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Biden also called Putin a "butcher" over the weekend, after meeting with refugees in Poland.

His language drew a rebuke from France's President Emmanuel Macron, who was asked about Biden calling Putin a "butcher" and saying he "cannot remain in power."

"I wouldn't use those terms, because I continue to speak to President Putin," Macron said in aninterview with France 3. "Because what do we want to do collectively? We want to stop the war that Russia launched in Ukraine, without waging war and without escalation."

The dustup comes as recent polls have shown growing frustration with Biden's handling of Ukraine, even while most Americans favor specific steps the president has taken. According to recent ABC News/Ipsosdata, 70% of Americans disapprove of Biden's handling of gas prices, for instance, though even more respondents -- 77% -- support his proposal to ban Russian oil, even if it means paying more at the pump.

Biden has stepped up his rhetoric in recent weeks as the fighting in Ukraine has worsened. At least twice in the last month, he has called the Russian president a "war criminal," adding he thinks Putin "will meet the legal definition." The State Department announced last week Russian forces havecommitted war crimesin Ukraine but did not specially name Putin.