US President Joe Biden's comment that Russian leader Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power" continued to generate outrage in Moscow on Sunday.
Prominent Russian Senator Konstantin Kosachev, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in parliament's upper house, claimed Biden made statements with "frightening regularity" that are worse than crimes.
There had been times in the past when the word of a US president carried weight, but that is over, he said.
Biden, at the end of a fiery speech in Warsaw on Saturday night, said of Putin: "For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power."
The remark was interpreted as a dramatic shift in US foreign policy, with Biden seeming to suggest regime change was necessary in Russia.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov quickly hit back, saying: "That's not for Biden to decide. The president of Russia is elected by Russians."
As Biden's words ricocheted around the world, the White House attempted to clarify that the president's remarks were not a direct call for Putin's overthrow.
"The president's point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbours or the region," the official said. "He was not discussing Putin's power in Russia, or regime change."
Called Putin a 'butcher'
In the same speech Biden called Putin a "butcher," a "war criminal" and a "murderous dictator."
Russian parliamentary leader Vyacheslav Volodin accused the US president of "undiplomatic statements" and "hysteria."
"Biden is weak, sick and unhappy," Volodin commented on Telegram. "US citizens should be ashamed of their president. Possibly he is sick. It would be right for Biden to get a medical check-up."
Putin, on the other hand, deserved respect because of his "restraint," Volodin said.
Moscow recently warned that diplomatic relations with the United States were on the verge of a complete break given the soaring tensions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
