Nigel Farage has been blasted for ‘echoing Putin’s vile justification’ for the Ukraine conflict after he suggested the West was to blame for Russia’s invasion.
Critics have said ‘every vote for Farage will be celebrated in Moscow’ after he claimed 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.
The Reform UK leader also spoke of his ‘admiration’ for Putin as a ‘political operator’ but insisted he disliked the Russian leader as a person.
Home Secretary James Cleverly accused Mr Farage, however, of ‘echoing Putin’s vile justification for the brutal invasion of Ukraine’.
He was also criticised by Guy Verhofstadt, a prominent Belgian MEP, who said Farage was repeating ‘Kremlin talking points’.
‘In the European Parliament, Farage always defended Putin’, he said.
‘Every vote for Farage is celebrated in Moscow!’
Mr Farage, however, doubled down on his comments last night as he posted on X: ‘I am one of the few figures that have been consistent & honest about the war with Russia.
‘Putin was wrong to invade a sovereign nation, and the EU was wrong to expand eastward.
‘The sooner we realise this, the closer we will be to ending the war and delivering peace.’
Former Nato Secretary General Lord Robertson further criticised the Reform UK leader for ‘parroting the Kremlin Line’ and ‘producing new excuses for the brutal, unprovoked attack’.
Mr Farage claimed during the interview that Lord Robertson had agreed the Ukrainian conflict was caused by the expansion of the EU.
But speaking to BBC Radio 4, the Labour peer refuted Mr Farage’s comments, describing them as ‘complete nonsense’.
‘Saying that we provoked Russia is like saying that if you buy a burglar alarm, in some way you provoke burglars’, Lord Robertson said.
Labour shadow defence secretary John Healy said Mr Farage would ‘rather lick Vladimir Putin’s boots than stand up for the people of Ukraine’ and added: ‘These are disgraceful comments, which reveal the true face of Nigel Farage: a Putin apologist who should never be trusted with our nation’s security.
‘Up until now, there has been a united front amongst Britain’s political leaders in supporting the people of Ukraine against the unprovoked and unjustifiable assault they have suffered at the hands of Vladimir Putin.’
Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood told the Daily Telegraph: ‘Churchill will be turning in his grave.
‘Putin, already enjoying how Farage is disrupting British politics, will be delighted to hear this talk of appeasement during our election debate.’
Mr Farage’s comments indicate a clear divide between Reform and the Tories over the Ukrainian 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 comments on Panorama last night 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’.
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 Interview with Nick Robinson is available on BBC iPlayer