"West Provoked Russian Invasion Of Ukraine": UK Right-Wing Leader Nigel Farage

Niger Farage, the reform UK leader, claimed that European Union and NATO provoked Russia to invade Ukraine. The Reform UK leader appeared on the BBC’s Panorama program and held NATO and EU’s eastward expansion as that provoked Putin to invade Ukraine.

His comments drew widespread criticism. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described it as ‘plays into Putin’s hands and the Labour leader said it was ‘disgraceful’ adding that Russia bore ‘sole responsibility’ for invading Ukraine.

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Farage said that he was not an “apologist or supporter of Putin'”. Calling Putin’s invasion immoral, outrageous, and indefensible, he believed that it infringed upon the national sovereignty of Ukraine. In an article entitled, “The West’s errors in Ukraine have been catastrophic. I won’t apologize for telling the truth,” Farage said the political establishment is targeting him. He denied the accusations of being called an appeaser. “I have never sought to justify Putin’s invasion in any way and I’m not now.”

Farage told Panorama that in 2014, he stood up in the European Parliament and said that there would be a war in Ukraine as the eastward expansion of NATO and EU was giving Putin a reason to convince his people in Russia and say that ‘They are coming for us again and to go to war’.

The Reform UK Leader said that he predicted the invasion a decade earlier and West played into Putin’s hand, giving him the excuse to invade.

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Farage was criticized by the leaders who said that this kind of appeasement is dangerous for Britain’s security, and the security of our allies that rely on us, and only emboldens Putin further.

The Labour leader Keir Starmer said that every parliamentarian ought to be clear about that Russia is the aggressor and Putin bears the responsibility. He said that Parliament has spoken in a single voice to stand with Ukraine.

The home secretary, James Cleverly wrote on X, “Just Farage echoing Putin’s vile justification for the brutal invasion of Ukraine.” The former defense secretary Ben Wallace described him as a “pub bore” who does not understand the “real world of politics.”