Entire UK Establishment Piles On Nigel Farage For Saying ‘We Provoked’ Ukraine War

Populist firebrand politician and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is at the center of a storm of criticism and backlash over comments made in a Friday BBC interview wherein he pointed out that it was NATO’s constant eastward expansion that’s fundamentally to blame for the Russia-Ukraine war.

Farage made it clear that while President Putin made the decision to invade Ukraine, the Reform UK leader emphasized that: “We’ve provoked this war. Of course it’s his fault. He’s used what we’ve done.”

The Western military alliance’s expansion right up to Russia’s doorstep gave Putin the pretext and justification to tell the Russian population that “they’re coming for us again”.

Media pundits, and eventually national government leaders, quickly pounced on his words and demanded an apology. Farage refused, and instead doubled down in a Telegraph newspaper op-ed where he unpacked his views further, writing that “if you poke the Russian bear with a stick, don’t be surprised if he responds.” He described the invasion as “immoral” but understandable from Moscow’s perspective.

Farage stressed that he’s never been an apologist of Putin and stands for Ukraine’s sovereignty, and yet it remains – he wrote – that he saw the war coming “a decade ago” and he’s been consistently correct and honest about the Ukraine conflict…

What I have been saying for the past 10 years is that the West has played into Putin’s hands, giving him the excuse to do what he wanted to do anyway.

Back in 2014, when the EU first offered Ukraine an accession agreement, I said in a speech in the European Parliament that “there will be a war in Ukraine”. Why? Because the expansion of NATO and the European Union was giving Putin a pretext he would not ignore.

He then stressed, “Don’t blame me for telling the truth about Putin’s war in Ukraine,” and declared that he wants to “set the record straight.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak responded directly to the interview, and lambasted the commentary as “completely wrong as it “only plays into Putin’s hands.” He and others charged Farage with “appeasement” which is “dangerous for Britain’s security.”

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey dismissed Farage as “an apologist for Putin” over the words, saying statements are “an insult to all Ukrainians who have suffered.” Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer piled on too, calling Farage’s perspective “disgraceful”.

Farage in the Saturday op-ed further addressed his “slanderers” – writing that There is no easy solution to the war. But facing up to the truth about the causes and consequences must be a start. That is why I simply want to tell it as it is, and have done for a decade. Those slanderers who claim that telling the truth makes me a “mouthpiece for Putin” only reveal the weakness of their own case.”