Start negotiating with Putin, Nigel Farage urges West

Western leaders should hold peace talks with President Putin to break the ‘stalemate’ in Ukraine, the Reform UK leader has said.

Nigel Farage is urging the West to hold peace talks with Vladimir Putin. Picture; BBC via Getty Images.

Western leaders should hold peace talks with President Putin to break the “stalemate” in Ukraine, Nigel Farage has said.

The Reform UK leader has already courted criticism from across the political spectrum after claiming that the West provoked Russia into war by expanding the European Union and NATO further east.

In remarks likely to bring more disapproval, Farage said in an interview with Tonight on ITV that it would be “better” to hold peace negotiations with the Russian leader.

In the interview he said: “I feel the war is a complete stalemate. I think the number of lives being lost is horrific. There have been no sensible substantive negotiations of any kind and even if negotiations to try and find a peace, to try and find a way through, fail, I think it’s better to have those negotiations than not.”

He added: “I think the West historically, up until a few years ago, provoked Putin stupidly. I felt the ever, ever eastward expansion of NATO and the European Union was giving Putin a reason to go to war. I guess the question is, what do we do now?”

Nigel Farage is interviewed on the BBC. Picture: BBC via Getty Images.

Before the interview, James Cleverly, the home secretary, became the latest political figure to criticise Farage, accusing him of “echoing Putin”. Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, and Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, have also condemned his comments, but Russian state media praised him for showing “enlightenment and sanity”.

Speaking to ITV, Farage supported Britain giving backing and munitions to Ukraine but said that western sanctions had pushed Putin closer to China.

Farage told the BBC last week that the West had “provoked” the war, but stressed that the invasion of Ukraine was Putin’s fault and added: “He’s used what we’ve done as an excuse.”

Russian propagandists have capitalised on his views. One news anchor praised Farage’s “balanced” comments, and said that they told the truth about “who really provoked the conflict”. Another said that Farage had shown “enlightenment and sanity” and called him “an experienced politician who follows the mood of voters”.

Cleverly said the row showed Farage’s “complete toxicity” and suggested that he should not be allowed to join the Tories, despite some figures in the party calling for a pact with Reform after the general election. “I cannot envisage how attitudes like that have any home in the Conservative Party,” Cleverly told Sky News yesterday.

Farage claimed that newspaper stories about him were being concocted to protect “the dying Conservative Party”.

He added on Twitter/X last night: “The British people will see through this act of utter desperation.” He also hit out at what he called “election interference”.

The Times