Top Tory Nadhim Zahawi has insisted it is "up to the Russian people" whether Vladimir Putin stays in power, distancing the UK from Joe Biden's apparent call for regime change.
The White House has been attempting to row back on highly-charged remarks made by the US President on Saturday, when he said "butcher" Putin "cannot remain in power".
Washington has been scrambling to point out Mr Biden meant the Russian President cannot extend his power into Ukraine, after the seemingly unscripted comments in Poland.
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi used an interview with Sky News on Sunday to underline it was “for the Russian people to decide how they are governed”.
After meeting Ukrainian refugees in Poland, Mr Biden made comparisons between the invasion of Ukraine and the horrors of the Second World War.
“For God’s sake this man cannot remain in power,” he said of the Russian president at the close of his speech.
He also made a direct appeal to the Russian people, saying: “If you’re able to listen – you, the Russian people, are not our enemy.”
Following the speech, White House officials tried to argue that the US president intended meaning was that Putin “cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbours or the region”.
“He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change,” one official said, before reports in the US suggested the remarks in question had not been scripted.
Interviewed on Sunday, Mr Zahawi said it is “for the Russian people to decide how they are governed” but suggested they “would certainly do well” to have someone who “is democratic and understands their wishes”.
“I think that’s up to the Russian people,” he told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday.
“The Russian people, I think, are pretty fed up with what is happening in Ukraine, this illegal invasion, the destruction of their own livelihoods, their economy is collapsing around them and I think the Russian people will decide the fate of Putin and his cronies.”
But he declined to criticise Mr Biden, unlike Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative MP who chairs the Commons Defence Committee, who said Mr Putin will now “spin this, dig in and fight harder”.
Asked if Mr Biden was wrong to issue the call, Mr Zahawi replied: “No, what I’m saying to you is the White House has been very clear on this, the president gave a very powerful speech on this and I think both the United States and the United Kingdom agree that it’s up to the Russian people to decide who should be governing them.”
