Nigel Farage has been accused of \u201cparroting Kremlin lines\u201d after saying that he would vote against any UK government plans to deploy the military in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Britain and France said they would be ready to send troops<\/a> to Ukraine<\/a> after a peace deal, but the Reform UK leader said he would vote against any such move to put boots on the ground.<\/p>\n Farage\u2019s comments cast doubt on his commitment to the UK\u2019s national security, the cabinet minister Pat McFadden<\/a> said. He accused the politician of taking a pro-Russia stance on the issue, which he said should give voters \u201cpause for thought\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis guarantee is not just for Ukraine<\/a>, it\u2019s for the whole of Europe,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s in the British national interest that we do that, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s so concerning to me to see some politicians, like Mr Farage, for example, immediately come out [and] parrot the Kremlin line and say that he wouldn\u2019t support this.\u201d<\/p>\n Farage faced criticism for \u201cnot really [being] an MP at all\u201d<\/a> on Wednesday after choosing to appear on Times Radio instead of attending prime minister\u2019s questions in the Commons. During the broadcast he criticised Starmer\u2019s Ukraine policy and said he would vote against any proposal to deploy troops to the country.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be a very interesting vote. I would vote against,\u201d said Farage, who is one of five Reform MPs. \u201cWe neither have the manpower nor the equipment to go into an operation that clearly has no ending timeline.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cIf the coalition of the willing was eight, 10, a dozen countries and we could rotate battalions through then I might well say, \u2018Yeah, absolutely let\u2019s do it\u2019. As it is, it will be us and the French completely exposed for an unlimited period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n Farage\u2019s comments came after a summit on Tuesday of more than two dozen leaders<\/a> of the states that make up the \u201ccoalition of the willing\u201d of Ukrainian allies, plus the US envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner.<\/p>\n Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron<\/a> signed a declaration of intent with Ukraine\u2019s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a>, in Paris, and said they were committed to deploying ground troops to Ukraine. At prime minister\u2019s questions on Wednesday, Starmer said MPs would have a debate and vote<\/a> before any UK troops were deployed on peacekeeping duties.<\/p>\n Farage\u2019s stance on Russia has become a key Labour attack line<\/a> against Reform, in particular since the jailing of the party\u2019s former leader in Wales Nathan Gill <\/a>in last November for taking bribes to make statements in favour of Russia<\/a> when he was an MEP.<\/p>\n In the past, Farage has spoken of his admiration for Putin as a political operator and repeatedly warned the west against \u201cpoking the Russian bear with a stick<\/a>\u201d, accusing the EU of provoking the war in Ukraine in 2024. After criticism, he wrote in the Telegraph<\/a> that Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine was \u201cimmoral, outrageous and indefensible\u201d but added: \u201c[I]f you have neither the means nor the political will to face him down, poking a bear is obviously not good foreign policy.\u201d<\/p>\n