Nigel Farage<\/a><\/span><\/span> has said the West “provoked” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by expanding the European Union and Nato military alliance eastwards.<\/p>\n The Reform UK leader told the BBC that “of course” the war was President Vladimir Putin<\/a><\/span><\/span>‘s fault.<\/p>\n But he added that the expansion of the EU and Nato gave him a “reason” to tell the Russian people “they’re coming for us again”.<\/p>\n In an interview with the BBC’s Nick Robinson,<\/a> Mr Farage was challenged over his judgement and past statements, including when he named Russian President Vladimir Putin as the world leader he most admired in 2014.<\/p>\n “I said I disliked him as a person, but admired him as a political operator because he’s managed to take control of running Russia,” Mr Farage said.<\/p>\n He was then pressed over a social media post in February 2022<\/a>, when he claimed the Russian invasion of Ukraine was “a consequence of EU and Nato expansion”.<\/p>\n Mr Farage said he had been arguing since the 1990s that “the ever eastward expansion” of the Nato military alliance and the EU was giving President Putin “a reason to [give to] his Russian people to say they’re coming for us again and to go to war”.<\/p>\n He added: “We provoked this war. Of course, it’s [President Putin’s] fault.”<\/p>\n Responding to the interview, Conservative Home Secretary James Cleverly said<\/a> Mr Farage was \u201cechoing Putin\u2019s vile justification for the brutal invasion of Ukraine”.<\/p>\n Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It followed the occupation of the Crimea and Donbas regions in 2014.<\/p>\n Ukraine is not a member of the EU or Nato, which is made up of 32 countries across Europe and North America<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, the country applied to join both blocs following the Russian invasion.<\/p>\n Nato was formed in 1949 by 12 countries, including the US, UK, Canada and France.<\/p>\n After the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, many Eastern European countries joined including Hungary, Poland and Estonia.<\/p>\n The EU has also expanded since the 1990s, with a number of eastern European countries joining in 2004.<\/p>\n In the interview, Mr Farage also accused the Conservatives of failing to deliver on Brexit.<\/p>\n As the leader of UKIP, he was a key figure in the campaign to leave the EU.<\/p>\n While the issue dominated the 2019 general election, with Boris Johnson campaigning on the slogan “Get Brexit Done”, it has not featured prominently in the current campaign.<\/p>\n Asked if he stood by his previous claim that Brexit had failed, Mr Farage said: “No, it’s not a failure but we failed to deliver.<\/p>\n “It can’t be a failure. We’ve left the European Union. We’re now self-governing.”<\/p>\n But he added: “Brexit has failed those who voted for it, believing that immigration numbers would be reduced.\u201d<\/p>\n Net migration – the difference between the number of people coming to live in the UK and those leaving – has risen sharply since 2021, when the UK left the EU.<\/p>\n This has been driven by non-EU nationals coming to the UK.<\/p>\n Net migration reached record levels in 2022 before reducing slightly the following year.<\/p>\n Reform UK has said it backs a freeze on non-essential immigration<\/a> to relieve pressure on housing and public services, increase wages and “protect our culture identity and values”.<\/p>\n Mr Farage also criticised the Conservatives for “binning” their promise to scrap 4,000 EU laws<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pressed over whether he was just blaming others, Mr Farage said: “If you put me in charge, it would be very, very different. Of course they didn’t do that.<\/p>\n “The Conservative Party never believed in Brexit… They picked it up as a political opportunity, and they failed to deliver.”<\/p>\n