Nigel Farage has faced strong criticism after a television interview on Friday evening. However, despite the storm he has created, the British right-wing populist is standing by his claim that the EU and Nato provoked the war in Ukraine.
Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer have found common ground during the British election campaign.
Both the Conservative Prime Minister and the Labour leader launched an attack on Nigel Farage – the Brexit profile challenging the Conservatives from the right – who said on the BBC on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was only reacting to Western provocations when he invaded Ukraine. He claimed that part of the blame lies with the EU and Nato in their efforts to bring Ukraine and other Eastern European countries into their community.
Putin's fault
After a discussion about whether he still admired Putin, which he had previously stated, Farage replied:
Nato's and the EU's constant eastward expansion gives that man an excuse to tell the Russian people that "they're coming" and use it as a pretext for going to war, he said.
It's clearly Putin's fault, but he has used our actions as an excuse.
Sunak, who is under pressure from Farage's Reform Party, said on his campaign trail that such a response only benefits Putin.
Such appeasement is dangerous for Britain's security and for our allies who rely on us, and it only makes Putin stronger, he said in London according to The Guardian.
"Don't blame me"
Just a few kilometres away, Starmer called Farage's words "shameful".
All candidates in the election should be very clear that Russia is the aggressive party, that Putin bears all the responsibility, and that we stand with Ukraine.
Variations of the two leaders' words were heard from a long line of politicians throughout the day, but Farage stood firm.
In a debate article in The Telegraph, published in the early evening, he writes that he has "never been a Putin apologist", but that no one should "blame him for telling the truth about Putin's war in Ukraine".
The British parliamentary election is being held on 4 July.
