A political gaffe, Michael Kinsley wrote, “is when a politician tells the truth – some obvious truth he isn’t supposed to say”. President Joe Biden, a self-proclaimed “gaffe machine”, did not fail to deliver at the weekend by declaring that the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, “cannot remain in power”. A Freudian slip, perhaps, from a US president who has already called Mr Putin a “butcher” and a “murderous dictator”. But regime change in Russia is not official US policy – and nor should it be, given the nuclear, chemical and biological weapons Mr Putin possesses.
The uproar caused by Mr Biden’s comment led to it being walked back by the White House. This was the mature and correct way for Washington to proceed. Mr Biden had made the unfortunate comment on the eve of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Progress has been slow. But the US president’s statement threatened to bring negotiations to a halt. If Mr Biden’s words had not been withdrawn, Mr Putin’s worst fears – that the US wanted him gone – would be confirmed. The Russian president, who has hitherto shown no restraint, would have no reason to compromise, with everything to lose.
The Roman statesman Cicero thought that the purpose of war was peace. The Ukrainian army has bravely fought Russian forces to a standstill, but cannot retake the ground it has lost. Mr Putin’s blitzkrieg to topple the Kyiv government failed. There’s no end in sight for the first major European conflict this century. Ukraine is fighting a just war of self-defence. Russia is engaged in an unjust war of aggression. Cicero believed that “an unjust peace is better than a just war”. But terms of peace that were too favourable to Russia would simply be an agreement for further fighting.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has adopted a twin-track strategy to deal with Moscow. He is softening his diplomatic position – telling Russian journalists that Ukraine could be neutral and compromise over the status of the eastern Donbas region as part of a peace deal – while hardening his military position by calling for more tanks, missiles and even fighter jets from Nato. Mr Zelenskiy wants to secure as much sovereignty and autonomy as possible. He deserves our support. Mr Putin does not appear to be taking the talks anywhere near as seriously as Ukraine is. This might explain Mr Zelenskiy’s call for a face-to-face meeting with Mr Putin.
The Russian president does not want to be seen to lose. Mr Putin has become drunk on his success in extending his influence across the former Soviet republics and in the Middle East. Yet his immoral and illegal war in Ukraine has galvanised Nato and united the EU. Mr Putin has made real what he most feared: a Ukraine proudly distinct from Russia in which liberals and nationalists have found common cause.
Kyiv and Moscow are likely to have to settle for less than they want. Ukraine is an imperfect democracy, but one able to negotiate legitimate political outcomes without violence and within the rule of law. This cannot be said of Russia under Mr Putin. Underlying Mr Biden’s gaffe was a truth that Russia’s president cannot be trusted to honour a peace deal. Nor can his criminal invasion be rewarded. However, only Russians can remove Mr Putin from the negotiations – and their country’s history is not without civil uprisings precipitated by unpopular wars.
