American officials scrambled to clarify Biden’s suggestion that Putin ‘cannot remain in power.’

Administration officers and lawmakers confused on Sunday that the USA was not in search of regime change in Russia over President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine regardless of President Biden’s remark that the Russian chief “can’t stay in energy.”

Capping a collection of diplomatic summits in Europe, Mr. Biden delivered a speech on Saturday in Poland in regards to the struggle in Ukraine. An apparently ad-libbed comment on the conclusion of his deal with — “For God’s sake, this man can’t stay in energy” — rapidly eclipsed the remainder of his speech.

Authorities officers — from the White Home to senior lawmakers on Capitol Hill — had been fast to say that the comment was not meant as a name for a regime change, underscoring the precarious effort to punish Russia for attacking Ukraine whereas avoiding an escalation within the struggle.

On Sunday, U.S. officers had been nonetheless making an attempt to stroll again and make clear the remark.

“We should not have a technique of regime change in Russia or anyplace else, for that matter,” Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken advised journalists in Jerusalem after assembly with Israel’s international minister, Yair Lapid. “On this case, as in any case, it’s as much as the individuals of the nation in query. It’s as much as the Russian individuals.”

Julianne Smith, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, advised CNN’s “State of the Union” that Mr. Biden’s remarks had been “a principled human response” to the Ukrainian refugees he had met in Warsaw. However, she insisted, “the U.S. doesn’t have a coverage of regime change in Russia. Full cease.”

Senior lawmakers maintained an identical place on Sunday, with Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, the highest Republican on the Overseas Relations Committee, saying he wished Mr. Biden “would keep on script.”

Mr. Risch stated that even suggesting regime change would inevitably “trigger an enormous drawback,” calling the comment a “horrendous gaffe” in an in any other case good speech.

“The administration has carried out all the things they’ll to cease escalating — there’s not a complete lot extra you are able to do to escalate than to name for a regime change,” he advised CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“I’ll stroll it again proper now — that’s not the coverage of the USA of America,” he added. “Please, Mr. President, keep on script.”

Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, stated on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the remark “performs into the fingers of the Russian propagandists and performs into the fingers of Vladimir Putin,” although he described the speech as “very robust, regardless of the ad-lib on the finish.”

The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, echoed feedback from the White Home.

“It’s as much as the Russian individuals to find out who’s going to be in energy within the Kremlin,” he advised CNN.

Consultant Michael McCaul of Texas, the highest Republican on the Home Overseas Affairs Committee, stated that “the very fact is, anytime the USA has stated — spoke out for a regime change, it hasn’t labored out so nicely.”

“I do know it was off the cuff, however regardless of the president says, it carries a variety of weight,” Mr. McCaul advised CNN’s “State of the Union.” He stated the comment threatened to overshadow the push to ship further navy help and different support to Ukraine in its combat in opposition to Russia.