JERUSALEM: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday President Vladimir Putin's position is "up to the Russians", playing down President Joe Biden's comments that suggested a desire for regime change in Moscow.

Biden's point, Blinken said in Jerusalem, was that "Putin cannot be empowered to wage war, or engage in aggression against Ukraine, or anyone else", reports AFP.

That raised questions of whether the United States was advocating non-democratic "regime change" in Russia.

"As you've heard us say repeatedly, we do not have a strategy of regime change in Russia or anywhere else for that matter," said Blinken.

"As in any case, it's up to the people of the country in question. It's up to the Russians," he said.