Reform UK’s Nigel Farage blames Nato and EU for ‘provoking’ Ukraine war

The expansion of Nato and the European Union into eastern Europe is to blame for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Nigel Farage, leader of the populist Reform UK party surging in the polls.

In a BBC interview on Friday, Farage stood by comments he made previously pointing the finger at the West, saying “it was obvious” more eastern European countries joining the pacts would provoke Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Conservative Home Secretary James Cleverly said Farage was “echoing Putin’s vile justification for the brutal invasion of Ukraine.” Labour shadow defence secretary John Healey said the comments were “disgraceful” and called Farage a “Putin apologist.”

Farage’s party has seized on anti-immigration sentiment and jumped in the polls at the expense of the ruling Conservatives ahead of the July 4 election. That is splitting the right-wing vote and surveys show Sunak’s Tories on course for a historic defeat to Keir Starmer’s opposition Labour Party.

Farage’s comments come after a string of controversies involving Reform election candidates, including one who apologised after saying the UK should have “taken Hitler up on his offer of neutrality.”

In the BBC interview, Farage was pressed on his previous comments suggesting he admired Putin and that the West had provoked the Russian leader.