JOHN Swinney has called Nigel Farage “a traitor to the interests of the people on these islands” following his comments on the war in Ukraine.
Speaking to The National whilst attending Edinburgh Pride on Saturday, the First Minister said Farage’s comments were “some of the most appalling remarks I’ve heard, literally in my life”.
In an interview with the BBC, Farage said “we provoked this war”, referring to the West, and drew a link between the war and the expansion of Nato and the European Union.
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Swinney said Farage’s comments were of “an extraordinary degree of absurdity and danger”.
He continued: “Vladimir Putin has voluntarily invaded a sovereign country, and nobody provoked him to, nobody was a threat to Vladimir Putin.
“Nigel Farage has just confirmed what all of us have suspected of him – that he is a dangerous man.
“And that he is a traitor to the interests of the people of these islands, and to the people of Ukraine.”
Swinney’s response comes after the SNP’s former Westminster spokesperson for foreign affairs, Brendan O’Hara, said Farage’s comments were “an insult to all Ukrainians who have suffered at the hands of his [Putin’s] evil regime”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has also condemned Farage, saying his remarks were “completely wrong and only plays into Putin’s hands”.
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Meanwhile, Labour leader Keir Starmer called the remarks “disgraceful” and said anyone standing for Parliament should make clear Russia is the aggressor.
Following the broadcast of his BBC Panorama interview with Nick Robinson on Friday, Farage posted on social media that he was “one of the few figures that have been consistent & honest about the war with Russia”.
I am one of the few figures that have been consistent & honest about the war with Russia.
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) June 21, 2024
Putin was wrong to invade a sovereign nation, and the EU was wrong to expand eastward.
The sooner we realise this, the closer we will be to ending the war and delivering peace. https://t.co/o1nJt8mDlR
In a post on Twitter/X, Farage continued: “Putin was wrong to invade a sovereign nation, and the EU was wrong to expand eastward.
“The sooner we realise this, the closer we will be to ending the war and delivering peace.”
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