Boris Johnson blasts Nigel Farage for 'morally repugnant' claims on Ukraine and says he's 'parroting Putin's lies': Former PM slams Reform leader's 'nauseating drivel'
Boris Johnson last night accused Nigel Farage of being 'morally repugnant' for 'parroting Putin's lies' about Ukraine.
The former prime minister lashed out at the Reform UK leader after he doubled down on his comments that the West was to blame for provoking Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Johnson branded his comments 'nauseating ahistorical drivel and more Kremlin propaganda'.
It came after Vladimir Putin's propaganda machine praised Mr Farage for showing 'enlightenment and sanity'.
Russian state TV – rigidly controlled by the dictator – boasted that he was 'complimentary' to Russia and had revealed 'who really provoked the conflict'.
A spokesman for Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov also seized on Mr Farage's comments. Asked if the Kremlin considered the Clacton-on-Sea candidate 'an ally', Maria Zakharova suggested it did, saying: 'How [else do] you see the person who tells people that two plus two is four or reminds you of the exact time?'
Former prime minister Boris Johnson (pictured) lashed out at the Reform UK leader after he doubled down on his comments that the West was to blame for provoking Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Nigel Farage (pictured) wrote in an article for the Sunday Telegraph: 'If you poke the Russian bear with a stick, don't be surprised if he responds'
In an article for the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Farage wrote: 'His [Putin's] invasion of Ukraine was immoral, outrageous and indefensible. As a champion of national sovereignty, I believe that Putin was entirely wrong to invade the sovereign nation of Ukraine. Nobody can fairly accuse me of being an appeaser. I have never sought to justify Putin's invasion in any way and I'm not now.
'But that doesn't change the fact that I saw it coming a decade ago, warned that it was coming and am one of the few political figures who has been consistently right and honest about Russia's Ukraine war. If you poke the Russian bear with a stick, don't be surprised if he responds.'
Sharing the article on X, Mr Johnson wrote: 'This is nauseating ahistorical drivel and more Kremlin propaganda. Nobody provoked Putin. Nobody 'poked the bear with a stick'.
'The people of Ukraine voted overwhelmingly in 1991 to be a sovereign and independent country. They were perfectly entitled to seek both Nato and EU membership.
'There is only one person responsible for Russian aggression against Ukraine – both in 2014 and 2022 – and that is Putin. To try to spread the blame is morally repugnant and parroting Putin's lies.'
He added: 'It is bizarre that the author should also suggest we now reduce our support for Ukraine, when the solution to the conflict is in fact clear – the Ukrainians need to win, and to repel Putin's invasion.
Vladimir Putin's propaganda machine praised Mr Farage for showing 'enlightenment and sanity'. Pictured: Putin takes part in a wreath-laying ceremony
'They can and they will. The problem in the last 30 years has not been western provocation but western weakness in the face of Russian aggression – a weakness exemplified by this article.'
Russian news anchor Ekaterina Andreeva hailed Mr Farage's 'balanced' comments on a Russian channel's main evening bulletin. Introducing a clip from the BBC Panorama Interviews programme, on which Mr Farage originally made the comments, she said: 'The leader of a British Right-wing party, Nigel Farage, on who really provoked the conflict.'
In an earlier bulletin on the same 1TV channel, Anylona Lapshina suggested Mr Farage's views represented public disenchantment with support for Kyiv, adding: 'More and more European politicians are showing enlightenment and sanity.
'The leader of a British Right-wing party, Nigel Farage, expressed an opinion different from the generally accepted position of the West. Farage, as an experienced politician, follows the mood of voters.'
Mr Farage made his original comments in an interview with the BBC which was broadcast on Friday evening. He said he was not a supporter of the Russian tyrant and merely admired him as a 'political operator' because he had 'managed to take control of running Russia'.
He doubled down on his comments again last night, telling ITV that the West historically 'provoked Putin stupidly'. But he also said on X that he has 'never supported or been an ally of [Putin's] administration in any way'.
Home Secretary James Cleverly condemned the comments last night, telling GB News: 'To suggest somehow that those countries brought it upon themselves... is victim blaming of the worst order.'
