Farage condemned for claiming west provoked Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer have condemned Nigel Farage for his claim the west provoked the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the prime minister saying it “plays into Putin’s hands” and the Labour leader describing it as “disgraceful”.

Farage made the claim on Friday in a BBC Panorama interview, drawing a link between Nato and EU expansion in recent decades and the conflict in eastern Europe.

Asked by broadcasters about the remarks during an election campaign visit in London on Saturday, Rishi Sunak said: “What he said was completely wrong and only plays into Putin’s hands.

“This is a man [Mr Putin] who deployed nerve agent on the streets of Britain, who is doing deals with countries like North Korea, and this kind of appeasement is dangerous for Britain’s security, the security of our allies that rely on us, and only emboldens Putin further.”

Keir Starmer said Farage’s comments were “disgraceful” and that Russia bears “sole responsibility” for the invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters during a campaign visit in London, the Labour leader said: “Anyone who is standing for parliament ought to be really clear that Russia is the aggressor, Putin bears responsibility, and that we stand with Ukraine, as we have done from the beginning of this conflict. Parliament has spoken with one voice on this since the beginning of the conflict.”

Starmer added that Labour was “unshakeable in our commitment to Nato because this is about defending Ukraine, but it is also about defending our hard-won democracy and freedom, and anybody standing for public office ought to understand that”.

The Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Ed Davey, said he did not “share any values” with Farage. “My message to the British people: we need to support the Ukrainian people,” Davey added.

Farage’s comments have drawn widespread criticism.

The home secretary, James Cleverly, wrote on X: “Just Farage echoing Putin’s vile justification for the brutal invasion of Ukraine.”

The former shadow defence secretary John Healy said Farage would “rather lick Vladimir Putin’s boots than stand up for the people of Ukraine” while the former defence minister Tobias Ellwood told the Daily Telegraph that “Churchill will be turning in his grave” over the remarks.

The former defence secretary Ben Wallace described Farage as a “pub bore” who did not understand the “real world” of politics.

Wallace, who is not standing in the general election, told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “I think Nigel Farage is a bit like that pub bore we have all met at the end of the bar who often says: ‘Oh no, if I was running the country’, and presents very simplistic answers to actually, I am afraid, in the 21st century, complex problems.

“It is not that easy to a) govern a country, but also to find international solutions to problems.”

Wallace added: “If he became prime minister tomorrow morning, what is his solution to dealing with a President Putin that he alleges he admires?

“A man who, remember, was involved in the murder of a British citizen, Dawn Sturgess, with deployment of nerve agent in Salisbury. Is his answer to that: we provoked him? He is going to have to deal with the real world.

“Saying some of these comments today, with that rather odd admiration for totalitarian leaders … ‘Oh well, he’s a good old strong leader’. Well, he might be a good old strong leader, but he’s done it at the expense of sacrificing half a million Russians.

“I don’t want that anywhere in our politics.”

Appearing on the Panorama Interviews on Friday, Farage faced questions about his opinion of Putin. He said: “I said I disliked him as a person, but I admired him as a political operator because he’s managed to take control of running Russia.”

Putin has served continuously as either Russian president or prime minister since 1999 through elections that have been described as “rigged”.

Farage, a former member of the European parliament, also said in his interview: “Right, I’ll tell you what you don’t know, 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.”

Farage said he had been making similar comments “since the 1990s, ever since the fall of the [Berlin] Wall”, and added: “Hang on a second, we provoked this war. It’s, you know, of course it’s his fault – he’s used what we’ve done as an excuse.”

Farage’s comments drew criticism from a host of senior political figures.

The home secretary, James Cleverly, wrote on X: “Just Farage echoing Putin’s vile justification for the brutal invasion of Ukraine.”

The former shadow defence secretary John Healy said Farage would “rather lick Vladimir Putin’s boots than stand up for the people of Ukraine”.

The former defence minister Tobias Ellwood told the Daily Telegraph that “Churchill will be turning in his grave” over the remarks.

Reform UK has been contacted for comment.