NIGEL Farage has been branded an appeaser after suggesting the West provoked Vladimir Putin into invading Ukraine.
The head of Reform UK said tonight “we provoked this war”, citing the eastward expansion of NATO and the European Union.
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But he insisted that the blame for the conflict “of course” lies with the Kremlin tyrant.
However, former Defense Secretary Ben Wallace criticized the comments, saying: “Farage constantly lectures everyone about sovereignty but is happy to placate a dictator.”
And he accused Farage of “too often showing an unhealthy relationship with Kremlin talking points”.
The respected conservative added: “Farage refuses to see Putin for who he is.
“How can Farage express sympathy or admiration for a man who planted nerve agents on the streets of Britain?”
And he labeled him “more Chamberlain than Churchill”.
Farage argued in an interview with the BBC’s Nick Robinson that the EU and NATO gave Putin a “reason” to tell his people “they are coming after us again”.
And he was called out for past comments that seemed to suggest he admired Putin.
However, Farage responded: “I said I didn’t like him as a person, but I admired him as a political operator because he managed to take control of the management of Russia.”
However, in a February 2022 tweet, Farage said the war was “a consequence of the expansion of the EU and NATO”.
He defended the comment by saying he had been warning since the 1990s that “increasing eastward expansion” was dangerous.
He added: “We provoked this war. Of course, it is [President Putin’s] lack.”
He told the BBC: “I’m going to tell you what you don’t know. I stood up in the European Parliament in 2014 and 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 for his Russian people to say, ‘They’re coming after us another time’, and to go to war.”
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He shot back, “We provoked this war. It’s – you know, of course it’s his fault. He used what we did as an excuse.
Building on Robinson’s comment, he added: “I’m the only person in British politics who predicted what would happen, and of course everyone said I was a pariah for daring to suggest it.
“George Robertson, the former Labor Minister who became Secretary General of NATO, has said in recent weeks that the war is a direct result of EU expansion.
“My judgment is way ahead of everyone else’s in understanding this.”
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