Biden's comment on Putin's future 'could complicate things', says former CIA director

Biden's honest 'blunder' angers Moscow and Paris, but draws praise from some

President Joe Biden's impromptu remarks on Vladimir Putin have provoked many reactions in Washington and have become the target of criticism from world leaders and pundits, who say his words could exacerbate tensions and harden Putin's resolve.

Gen. (Ret.) David Petraeus became one of the most prominent critics of Biden's claim Sunday that Russia's Putin "cannot stay in power" in an interview with ABC's This Week, saying to guest host Jon Karl that the moment would not escape Putin. The president's remarks came during his visit to Poland, NATO's front line in the invasion of Ukraine, where Biden warned Russia not to step on even an inch of NATO territory.

White House aides spent the next few hours telling reporters that Biden had not called for regime change in Russia.

“The President expressed that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region,” an administration official told reporters. "He wasn't talking about Putin's power in Russia, or regime change."

These comments will not relieve Putin, whom Petraeus said was a student of the US government's efforts to topple governments seen as hostile to US interests.

Petraeus claimed that “this will work in his favor”, adding that he could “complicate things” as Ukraine tries to reach a peaceful end to the war that has been going on for more than a month.

Pres. Biden’s comment that Putin can’t remain in power “will cause some challenges down the road,” former CIA Dir. David Petraeus says.

“Headlines will move on to something else within a few days but in the mind of Putin…and it could complicate matters.” https://t.co/ZouDwwPCVp pic.twitter.com/KbViYKh75I

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 27, 2022

Petraeus, who was also director of the CIA under the Obama administration, did not see his opinion shared by the former director of the Department of Homeland Security under Obama, Jeh Johnson. Johnson appeared on NBC's Meet the Press, where he stated that he would not have instructed his aides to retract the statement, as Biden's aides did in the hours after his speech.

“I wouldn't have backed down,” Johnson said, adding of Putin: “He's a war criminal. He is slaughtering innocent women and children. He has illegally invaded Ukraine. And he has command and control of nuclear weapons.”

WATCH: Jeh Johnson says Pres. Biden’s ad lib on removing Russian Pres. Putin from power was “a statement of fact,” and “everyone in the Western world agrees.” #IfItsSunday

“I wouldn’t have walked it back” pic.twitter.com/yvvT0gEX42

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) March 27, 2022

Petraeus's warnings were more in line with those shared by French President Emmanuel Macron, who stressed that "we must not escalate things" while trying to reach a peace agreement.

“I would not use these kinds of words because I am still in talks with President Putin,” Macron said, according to Fox News. "We want to stop the war that Russia has launched in Ukraine without escalation... that is the goal."

A Russian Federation spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, flatly rejected Biden's comments in a statement to reporters in which he said the Russian people would have the last word on the matter.

The president's remarks have been widely scrutinized by journalists and foreign policy experts in the past 12 hours, and while many have agreed that the remarks were insensitive and generally ineffective in the unfolding of the crisis, they expressed their common frustration about Putin's erratic behavior in recent months.

“I guess you can call this an honest blunder,” Aaron David Miller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told the Washington Post in an interview, adding, “This is one of those speeches where the phrase unique drowns in many ways the intention of the speech. Because that's exactly what people focus on."

The US announced its latest round of sanctions, targeting many lawmakers in the Moscow legislative body, last week before Biden's visit abroad, with the president himself reportedly promising "greater defense cooperation" with Ukraine. in a meeting with the country's foreign minister over the weekend.