Nigel Farage calls on US to strengthen Nato to send a message to ‘dangerous’ Putin

Farage has previously faced criticism for his praise of Putin

Nigel Farage has called on the US to strengthen Nato in order to stop Vladimir Putin following his invasion of Ukraine.

The GB News presenter, known in the US primarily for his role in Britain’s exit from the European Union and his friendship with Donald Trump, told a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference that US commitment to the military alliance was vital to stop Russia from threatening other countries.

“This remarkable alliance that has worked since the late 1940s was put there to guarantee peace has pretty much done a very good job over those years,” he told the annual gathering of right wing activists.

“So there needs to be a big public debate in America right now about … if you wish to continue leading Nato. And if you do, that message must be sent loud and clear to Vladimir Putin. Because you know, if it’s not, if that message isn’t sent, I think Putin may well continue. I’ve come to that conclusion over the last few days,” he added.

“Do Americans still want to be the leaders of the Western world? Because if they’re not, we have a problem. The truth of it is without America, Nato is a waste of space. Without America, Putin will do what the hell he wants, and we don’t have the strength to stop him.”

Mr Farage drew ire in 2014 for appearing to praise Mr Putin’s political skill when he was asked in an interview which current leader he most admired.

“As an operator, but not as a human being, I would say Putin,” he said. "The way he played the whole Syria thing. Brilliant. Not that I approve of him politically. How many journalists in jail now?"

Those comments, and previous faint praise of Putin, have resurfaced in recent days following a full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces.

On Thursday, Mr Farage said the invasion was a consequence of Nato expansion.

“Well, I was wrong. Putin has gone much further than I thought he would. A consequence of EU and NATO expansion, which came to a head in 2014. It made no sense to poke the Russian bear with a stick. These are dark days for Europe,” he wrote on Twitter.

On stage on Friday, Mr Farage suggested that Mr Putin might launch further attacks if he is not stopped in Ukraine.

“If something’s gone wrong with Putin, if he’s lost logic and reason, it’s not impossible to think that he’ll want to go back to the days of Catherine the Great and the Tsarist Empire, and that Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are under threat,” he said.

He also called for a forceful US response Russia’s invasion.

“We have made mistakes, we have got things wrong. We have not been honest about much of our dealings with Ukraine and Russia. But the fact is, we are where we are. What Putin has done is truly dreadful, it is dangerous, it is frightening and if we believe in independent nation states and liberty and democracy then America — and Britain by your side — have to send Putin that  message, no further can he be allowed to go.”

“If we don’t, we’ll face an even bigger threat,” he said, referring to China.

Mr Farage went on in his speech to claim that universities had been turned into “madrassas of Marxism determined to indoctrinate and poison our young people” and made unsubstantiated assertions about the integrity of postal voting in the 2020 election.