UK party leader sparks outrage after saying West provoked Ukraine war
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UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak calls Farage's remarks "completely wrong and only plays into Putin's hands."
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Britain's Nigel Farage, Reform UK party leader, is filmed as he arrives at the Reform office to spend time with supporters in Clacton-On-Sea, Essex, England Friday, June 21, 2024. (AP)
Leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party, Nigel Farage, came under heavy criticism for stating that the West instigated the war in Ukraine.
"We've provoked this war," Farage said during an interview with the BBC, adding that it was "of course" Russian President Vladimir Putin's "fault".
In response, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called Farage's remarks "completely wrong and only plays into Putin's hands."
Leader of the Labour Party, Keir Starmer, also said the comments were "disgraceful".
"Anyone who is standing for parliament ought to be really clear that Russia is the aggressor," he told reporters.
Farage, a former member of the European Parliament is running for office in Clacton, in eastern England in next month's general elections. His party is polling third behind the Conservative and Labour parties.
Read more: UK Tories facing 'electoral extinction', surveys show
Farage was also called out by Interior Minister James Cleverly for "echoing Putin's vile justification for the brutal invasion of Ukraine."
Tobias Ellwood, a former Conservative minister of defense, called the comments "shocking" the Daily Telegraph newspaper and said that "Churchill will be turning in his grave."
Labour's defense spokesman John Healey called Farage's comments "disgraceful" and said his stance made him "unfit for any political office in our country."
It is noteworthy that last month, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow maintains the right to target British military sites in Ukraine "and abroad" if Kiev decides to attack Russian territory with weapons supplied by the UK.
"If such a scenario is implemented, then our country, the Russian Federation, reserves the right to respond accordingly. That is to use as a target British facilities located both on the territory of Ukraine and abroad -- military facilities, weapons, and so on," she said in an interview with the Russian state news agency TASS.
