Nigel Farage faced fury tonight as he suggested the West was to blame for Russia invading Ukraine.
The Reform UK leader made the extraordinary claim that NATO and the EU ‘provoked’ Vladimir Putin in an interview for the BBC’s Panorama election specials.
Grilled by presenter Nick Robinson, Mr Farage insisted the eastward ‘expansion’ of the Western alliance and political bloc had ‘given a reason’ for the Russian president to attack.
Mr Farage also spoke of his ‘admiration’ for Putin as a ‘political operator – while blustering that he was not ‘echoing’ his propaganda and stressing that he ‘disliked him as a person’.
The dramatic intervention was condemned by senior military figures, who accused the ex-MEP of ‘playing directly into Putin’s hands’. Former defence secretary Ben Wallace said he was voicing ‘sympathy’ for a dictator who ‘deployed nerve agents on the streets of Britain’.
The stance creates a clear divide between Mr Farage’s party and the Tories over the conflict and how to handle the rising threat from states like Russia and China.
Rishi Sunak – who is scrambling to stop the insurgents splitting the right-wing vote on July 4 and gifting Keir Starmer the keys to No10 – recently helped negotiate a new £39billion international package boosting Ukraine’s efforts to counter Russian aggression.
Boris Johnson and Liz Truss also staunchly supported Volodymyr Zelensky with weaponry and other aid.
Mr Farage claimed earlier this month that Ukraine will eventually have to seek a peace deal with Russia – but his latest comments on Panorama, being broadcast in full at 7pm this evening, go further.
In the Panorama interview, Mr Farage was challenged by Robinson that in February 2022, as the latest intense phase of the invasion began, he posted on social media that ‘it was a consequence of EU and NATO expansion’.
Mr Farage replied: ‘I stood up in the European Parliament in 2014 and I said, and I quote, ”there will be a war in Ukraine”.
‘Why did I say that? it was obvious to me that the ever-eastward expansion of NATO and the European Union was giving this man a reason to his Russian people to say, ”They’re coming for us again”, and to go to war.’
Pressed on whether he stood by that assessment, Mr Farage said ‘we provoked this war’.
‘It’s – you know, of course it’s his fault, he’s used what we’ve done as an excuse,’ he said.
Braced again on whether he believed the West had ‘provoked’ the invasion, Mr Farage said: ‘Yes, and very interestingly, once again, 10 years ago when I predicted this – by the way, I’m the only person in British politics that predicted what would happen – and of course everyone said I was a pariah for daring to suggest it.’
He added: ‘My judgement has been way ahead of everybody else’s in understanding this.’
Mr Farage denied that he was ‘echoing’ Putin’s rhetoric about Russia being threatened by the West, claiming he had ‘been saying this actually since the 1990s, ever since, before the war’.
Former Army intelligence officer Colonel Philip Ingram branded Mr Farage a danger to UK security.
Mr Ingram, a respected commentator on the conflict in Ukraine, told the Mail: ‘The West in no way provoked Russia into attacking Ukraine and suggesting so plays directly into Putin’s hands.
‘Putin will be smiling to himself seeing his work being done. Farage is a convenient mouthpiece for disinformation and a danger to our security with views like that.
‘Farage’s comments make the world a more dangerous place as they give succour to Putin. We must robustly defend sovereign nations.’
Mr Wallace told the Mail that Mr Farage had, once again, revealed his inclination to align with Russian interests.
He said: ‘Farage constantly lectures everyone about soveriegnty but is happy to placate a dictator.
‘He too often shows an unhealty relationship with the Kremlin’s talking points.
‘Farage refuses to see Putin for what he is. How can Farage express sympathy or admiration for a man who deployed nerve agents on the streets of Britain?
‘He is more Chamberlain than Churchill.’
Speaking as Reform outlined its defence plans earlier this month, he said negotiations with the Kremlin – which could lead to the partitioning of Ukraine – were inevitable.
Asked if Reform backed the idea of continuing to fund Ukraine’s efforts, Mr Farage said: ‘We would go on sending money to them but I think both sides need to be told that at some point wars either end in negotiation or catastrophe, and this one looks like going on for many, many, many years – and at an horrendous cost of life.
‘At some point there have to be face-to-face talks.
‘I’m not suggesting that it’ll happen quickly, but at some point that’s what we’d like to see.’
Pressed on whether that would mean Ukraine having to give up land, he appeared not to rule it out, adding: ‘The tough negotiation has to be over Crimea. That is clearly going to be very tough.’
Mr Farage predicted that if Donald Trump was re-elected US president this year then Ukraine premier Volodymyr Zelensky could soon be forced around the table with Vladimir Putin.
The Panorama Interviews with Nick Robinson is on BBC One at 7pm and BBC iPlayer.