Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has hit back at critics over his comments about Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
In an interview with BBC Panorama, Farage had claimed that the EU and Nato had given Putin a reason to tell the Russian people "they're coming for us again".
Addressing the comments at a Reform UK conference in Kent, Farage blasted the claims that he was "defending" Putin, telling the crowd he "would never, ever defend Putin".
Farage raged: "I think his behaviour in Ukraine and elsewhere has been reprehensible".
Nigel Farage has hit back at criticism of his comments about Russian leader Vladimir Putin
POOL
Hitting out at the world leaders, Farage claimed that they have "no knowledge of history" and "our leaders had no knowledge of Russia's psychology".
He fumed: "None of this justifies what he's done. And who knows - he may have done it anyway. But we gave him to give his people a reason for doing so.
"And you think I'm on my own in thinking this? The Pope in 2022 - it's not often the Pope and I are on the same side of any debate particularly - I'm a bit more Henry VIII. But the Pope made this point in 2022."
Fuming at the mainstream media, Farage hit out at the Daily Mail for portraying him as "the bad guy" following his Panorama interview.
Nigel Farage claimed he would 'never, ever, defend Putin'
PA