EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu called on “progressive forces of the world” to reject calls for Russian President Vladimir Putin to step down.

He was responding to US President Joe Biden saying Putin “cannot remain in power”.

Biden recently spoke in the Polish capital Warsaw, where he defended Nato.

“In the lead up to the current crisis, the US and Nato worked for months to engage Russia to avert war. I met Putin and talked to him many times on the phone. Time and again we offered real diplomacy and concrete proposals but Putin and Russia met the proposals with a disinterest in negotiations and ultimatums.

“We will have a brighter future rooted in democracy and principles, hope and light of dignity and decency of possibilities. For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” said Biden.

Shivambu said the US was a “fading empire” that thinks it can dispose of leaders with whom it disagrees. 

“So the fading empire thinks it can still dispose of leaders it doesn’t agree with and impose puppets? That era and world order must be rejected by all the progressive forces of the world,” he tweeted.

The EFF has maintained its support for Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.

Two weeks ago, party leader Julius Malema met Russian ambassador to SA Ilya Rogachev in Tshwane to seek first-hand information regarding the tensions between Russia and Ukraine and to strengthen ties with the Russian government.

“The EFF is convinced there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Russian Federation averting what is a patent and clear security threat to Russian territory and people by Nato forces, and particularly the US,” the EFF said before calling for the lifting of sanctions against Russia.