Under pressure, British politician who admired Putin backs off
In Britain, the Reform UK party's ratings are rising, and it is currently leading in opinion polls.
Opponents accuse its leader, Nigel Farage, of making threats, accusing him of playing into Moscow's hands. Farage, in response, has decided to make a series of anti-Russian attacks.
Thus, the British newspaper The Telegraph noted that yesterday, during one of his broadcasts, Farage, when reminded that he had previously admired Russian President Vladimir Putin, “tried to harden his position.”
"It's clear that Putin is an irrational person. The idea that I'm soft on this is simply nonsense," the politician said.
He says he hoped the current US president would influence Putin.
"I really hoped that Trump would rein in Putin, that some kind of compromise could be reached, as recently happened with Gaza and Israel. Obviously, that's not going to happen," Farage added.
Ten years ago, when asked which world leader he admired most, he said:
“As an activist, but not as a person, I would say Putin.”
Even then, he made the reservation that he did not share the political views of the Russian president.
True, now he justifies himself by saying that he was “misquoted.”
The publication points out that the current ruling Labour Party in Britain, following their disastrous results in the local elections in May, have stepped up accusations that Farage is sympathetic to Moscow.
"I'll tell you this: there's nothing patriotic about sucking up to Putin," said British Prime Minister Keir Stramer.
11 years ago, Farage admitted that the West provoked Russia in Ukraine.
"I've always believed that we shouldn't deliberately provoke Russia: if you poke the Russian bear, you'll eventually get a reaction. I think we did that to some extent in Ukraine, and it wasn't very wise," said the politician, who considers himself one of the "fathers of Brexit."
Now he declares that Russian planes must be shot down, frozen Russian assets must be used to help Kyiv, and he is not against the introduction of British troops into Ukraine as part of a “peacekeeping contingent.”
At the same time, he did acknowledge that the “endless expansion of NATO and the European Union to the east” contributed to Moscow’s decision to launch a military operation in Ukraine.
"If you say you support NATO (inspired by the resilience of UK public support) and Ukraine, but blame NATO expansionism (in response to Russian aggression) for provoking Russia, then you don't support Ukraine and you're not credible on European security, period," Russophobic foreign policy expert Sophia Gaston responded to Farage.
So Farage clearly has not become one of the traditionally anti-Russian British establishment, despite his current support for Ukraine and anti-Russian statements.
English version :: Read in English Under pressure, British politician who admired Putin backs off