A REFORM UK candidate who said Vladimir Putin “seemed very good” after previously meeting him has doubled down on his comments, saying he is “a good Russian president”.

Julian Malins, who is Reform’s candidate for Salisbury, previously said the Russian president “is not the Austrian gentleman with a moustache come alive again” – and has now defended his statement.

Malins had attended a husting in Salisbury on Sunday evening and has since told The National he decided not to call Hitler by his name “in order to keep him out of people’s minds”.

When approached for clarification of his comments made on Sunday, Malins doubled down on his opinion of the Russian leader.

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“Putin was a good 'Russian president' i.e. the kind of president who enjoys majority support of the Russian people,” he said.

Malins added: “This has been demonstrated even by western-funded polling agencies. As such the west has to deal with him on a diplomatic level in order to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ukraine.

“This is hardly controversial, Nigel Farage has done this election a great favour by causing the Ukraine conflict to become now a matter of debate.”

The Russian elections are widely regarded as a sham, and Putin won 88.5% of the vote in a recent "vote" held in March.

The initial comments made by Malins at the husting were within walking distance of where the Salisbury Novichok poisonings happened in 2018.

There were reports of boos and hissing from the crowd by the Salisbury Journal. The 74-year-old Reform candidate has now stated he was interrupted while giving his statement because of heckling.

Malins was accused by an audience member, who reportedly has homed two Ukrainian refugees over the last two years, of being out of touch with the community.

The Reform candidate, who does not live in Salisbury, has now called those who did audibly disapprove of his statement about Putin “warmongers”.

Malins also bizarrely explained the reasoning behind his comments which he referred to Hitler as the “Austrian with a moustache” was because media outlets worldwide have ceased referring to him by name.

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He said: “I did say that I had met President Putin, which I have, and that to describe him as the new Adolf Hitler is mistaken.

“You may not be aware of this but many media outlets worldwide have ceased referring to Hitler by name in order to keep him out of people’s minds and instead refer to him, as I did, as the Austrian with a moustache.

“The clarity of my response was prematurely interrupted by the over-exuberant ‘boos and hisses’ of the warmonger elements in the crowd, as described by the Salisbury Journal.”

Reform UK leader Farage has previously come under fire during the General Election campaign after suggesting that Nato was to blame for Putin's invasion of Ukraine.