UK’s Nigel Farage blamed the European Union and NATO for “provoking” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by expanding eastwards. In an interview with the BBC, Farage said: “I stood up in the European parliament in 2014 and I said: There will be a war in Ukraine.”“We provoked this war. Of course it’s his fault, he’s used what we’ve done as an excuse,” Farage added. The UK Reform leader also said he disliked the Russian president personally but “admired him as a political operator” because of the extent of his control over Russia. The leader of Britain’s anti-immigration Reform UK party faced strong criticism after saying that the West provoked Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters that Farage’s claim was “completely wrong and only plays into Putin’s hands.”