It was the gaffe heard around a world watching closely for signs that President Joe Biden’s age could become a deciding factor in who leads the United States and directs the powerful nation’s foreign policy.
Biden’s comment during his closing remarks at the NATO summit in Washington appeared to confuse Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Biden said as he introduced Zelenskyy, “President Putin.”
He quickly corrected himself, turned to the podium and said: “President Putin? You are going to beat President Putin! President Zelenskyy!”
Zelenskyy seized on Biden’s save: “I’m better,” he said of his wartime foe, as he shook Biden’s hand amid scattered laughter from the audience.
Media outlets from Japan to France published the error on their front pages, with several pointing out that Biden had also He then went on to call his vice president, Kamala Harris, “Vice President Trump.”
In Asia, all five major Japanese television networks reported on Biden’s gaffe, as did newspapers in Singapore, South Korea, India, Hong Kong and China.
The hardline Chinese newspaper Global Times published an article titled: “Biden’s statement on ‘Ukrainian President Putin’ worries foreign media.” It was also one of the most popular search topics on Weibo, the X-like Chinese social media platform.
Saudi and Egyptian media also noted the gaffe, with Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera saying: “Biden’s gaffes mount, calls for his withdrawal grow.”
In Europe, the right-wing British newspaper The Telegraph declared harshly: “Biden looks finished; there is surely no turning back.” Public broadcaster BBC said the mistakes “damage Biden’s comeback.”
Meanwhile, French television channel BFMTV broadcast a comment by President Emmanuel Macron in which he said that he found Biden to be a “responsible” man and that memory lapses “happen to us all.” French media were less kind. Le Parisien’s first line was “Joe Biden is making mistakes again,” and French daily Le Figaro called the incident “a monumental mistake” by Biden.
German newspaper Die Welt headlined the story about the gaffe, noting that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also appeared to defend Biden, saying: “Mistakes happen and if you always look closely enough at everyone, you will find enough.”
In Ukraine, as of Friday morning, no official appeared to have reacted to the error. However, there were some Ukrainian comments on social media.
On X, one commenter said, “Joe Biden called me Ryan Gosling.”
In Facebook comments following the story in one of the country’s leading newspapers, Ukrainska Pravda, one commentator said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if he puts guns in Russia instead of Ukraine. Dear Leonid Ilyich looked better at 82,” referring to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, who became the butt of many jokes in his waning years for his colorful gaffes and slips of the tongue and who died aged 75.
Others called Biden “grandpa” and some said they felt sorry for him. “It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad,” said another commenter.
Biden has been one of Ukraine’s most ardent supporters, while likely Republican nominee Donald Trump has said he would resolve the war in Ukraine within the first 24 hours of his presidency, raising concerns in Ukraine about what that could mean for the country’s fight against the Kremlin.
Meanwhile, in Russia, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was quick to react in a post on Telegram, sarcastically calling Biden’s gaffe a sign that he is “a pro-Russian candidate” controlled by the “hand of the Kremlin.”
Russia’s state-run Channel One noted during its Friday morning newscast that Biden “has again given rise to discussions about his mental health,” and state-run Rossiya 1 called a video of Putin’s gaffe “theater of the absurd.”
Kremlin propaganda often uses examples of Biden’s speech errors as proof of his ineptitude as the man in charge of Ukraine’s main military supporter.
“We realized that the whole world noticed,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked about Biden’s gaffes at his daily news conference on Friday, though he offered some diplomatic distance. It was none of Russia’s business, he said, and is an “internal matter” for the United States.
Yuliya Talmazan reported from London. Arata Yamamoto contributed from Japan, Charlene Gubash from Egypt, Nancy Ing from France, Andy Eckardt from Germany and Daryna Mayer and Artem Grudinin from Ukraine.
