One of Nigel Farage's most prominent supporters has repeatedly called for closer ties with the Kremlin, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Jonathan Mappin – who this weekend hosted a Reform rally where candidates were 'all cheering' Farage's controversial comments about the West being to blame for Russia's invasion of Ukraine – has said 'being friends with Putin is very smart.
We love him'.
Mappin, 59, an heir to the Mappin and Webb jewellery family and a practising Scientologist, has previously employed Farage on the advisory board of his company, Dutch Green Business.
Outrage over Nigel Farage's claim that the West was to blame for Russia's invasion of Ukraine also deepened last night with President Zelensky's office accusing him of being infected by the 'virus of Putinism'.
The extraordinary intervention adds force to the growing backlash against the Reform leader's claim that EU and Nato expansion had given Vladimir Putin a reason to justify war.
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@C0ngressFerretGreen2yrs2Y
This is on NATO's recklessness not Putin's self defense
@SolidWhitingPatriot2yrs2Y
Fact check! Nigel Farage on Putin: “His invasion of Ukraine was immoral, outrageous and indefensible. As a champion of national sovereignty, I believe that Putin was entirely wrong to invade the sovereign nation of Ukraine. Nobody can fairly accuse me of being an appeaser. I have never sought to justify Putin’s invasion in any way and I’m not now.”
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