Joe Biden said “nobody believes I was talking about taking down Putin” as he angrily denied calling for regime change in Russia in a speech on Saturday.

The US leader was questioned about his assertion that Russia’s president “cannot remain in power” and repeatedly said that he was not calling for him to be removed.

“I was expressing the moral outrage that I felt toward this man,” he said. “I wasn’t articulating a policy change.”

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The remark during President Biden’s speech in Warsaw about Mr Putin rattled some allies in Western Europe and was branded “alarming” by the Kremlin.

Mr Biden defended the remark as he fielded questions from reporters on Monday.

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“This is just stating a simple fact, that this kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable,” he said.

He said it was “ridiculous” to suggest the “cannot remain in power” remark amounted to a call for regime change.

Addressing his US counterpart’s remark on Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron said he “wouldn’t use those terms, because I continue to speak to President Putin, 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.”

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