Rishi Sunak says Nigel Farage is ‘playing into Putin’s hands’ with ‘completely wrong’ comments about the war in Ukraine | Politics News

Rishi Sunak said Nigel Farage’s comments about the West provoking Vladimir Putin were “completely wrong” and playing into the hands of the Russian dictator.

The UK’s reformist leader faces backlash from across the political spectrum for saying NATO and EU expansion “provoked” Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Sunak told reporters: “What he said was completely wrong and just plays into Putin’s hands.

“This is a man who distributed nerve agents on the streets of Britain, is making deals with countries like North Korea.

“And this kind of appeasement is dangerous to the security of Britain, the security of our allies who trust us and only further emboldens Putin.”

In an interview with BBC Panorama, Mr Farage said he had been warning since the fall of the Berlin Wall that there would be war in Ukraine due to “the ever-increasing eastward expansion of NATO and the European Union”.

He said this would give Putin a reason to tell the Russian people that “they are coming for us again” and go to war.

O Remodeling The leader confirmed his belief that the West “provoked” the conflict – but said it was “of course” the Russian president’s “fault”.

Asked about comments he made in 2014 Stating that Putin was the statesman he most admired, Farage said: “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 government of Russia.”

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

Sunak is the latest Tory figure to condemn the comments, after Home Secretary James Cleverly said Farage was “echoing Putin’s vile justification for the brutal invasion of Ukraine”.

Meanwhile, former Defense Secretary Ben Wallace branded the UK’s reformist leader a “pub borer… who often says ‘I was running the country’ and comes up with very simplistic answers to really complex problems. of the 21st century”.

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So far, Farage has enjoyed a relatively smooth campaign, with his party’s popularity rising and even overtaking the Conservatives in some polls.

Senior Conservatives, some of whom want Farage to join them in combating the threat of Reform Britain, have so far refrained from the kind of personal attacks they have launched against Sir Keir Starmer.

The most ministers have said against him so far is that voting for him is voting to put the Labor Party in Downing Street with a “supermajority”.

Labor leader Sir Keir condemned Farage’s comments, calling them “disgraceful”.

“I have always been clear that Putin is solely responsible for Russian aggression in Ukraine,” he said.

“Anyone who wants to be a representative in our parliament must make it very clear that whether it is Russian aggression on the battlefield or online, we are against that aggression.”

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “It’s Putin and Russia to blame for this, no one else.”

He added: “I share no values ​​with Nigel Farage.”

Following the backlash, Farage posted a late-night tweet appearing to clarify his comments.

The former Brexit Party leader wrote: “I am one of the few figures who has been consistent and honest about the war with Russia. Putin was wrong to invade a sovereign nation and the EU was wrong to expand eastward.

“The sooner we realize this, the closer we will be to ending war and achieving peace.”