Fact check: Former Nato chief did not say EU expansion ‘provoked’ Putin

Nigel Farage said the expansion of Nato and the EU “provoked” Russian president Vladimir Putin into invading Ukraine.

In a speech on June 24, the Reform UK leader addressed those comments, and claimed they were supported by the views of Lord Robertson, the former Secretary General of Nato.

Evaluation

Lord Robertson had previously said of President Putin, in an interview with the New Statesman, that: “[he’s] not bothered about Nato, or Nato enlargement”.

He also said: “The whole Ukraine crisis started with the offer of an [EU] accession agreement to Ukraine [in 2014].”

However, Lord Robertson added that the EU was “not at fault”, and has since said that Mr Farage is “parroting the Kremlin Line”.

The facts

In a speech broadcast on X, formally known as Twitter, on June 24, the Reform UK leader Nigel Farage discussed comments he had previously made in an interview with the BBC’s Panorama, in which he said that the expansion of Nato and the EU “provoked” President Putin into invading Ukraine.

During his speech, Mr Farage said: “George Robertson, the former Secretary General of Nato, said a few months ago that the EU’s accession agreement to Ukraine was a mistake that was used by Putin.”

George Robertson – Lord Robertson of Port Ellen – was Secretary General of Nato between 1999 and 2003.

In an interview with the New Statesman earlier this year, Lord Robertson dismissed the idea that Nato expansion in eastern Europe was the reason that Putin invaded Ukraine.

He said: “[Putin]’s not bothered about Nato, or Nato enlargement. He’s bothered by the European Union. The whole Ukraine crisis started with the offer of an [EU] accession agreement to Ukraine [in 2014].”

The article states that Lord Robertson added the caveat that: “the EU was not at fault because accession was what Ukraine, as a sovereign nation, wanted”.

In a BBC article published since the Panorama interview – and before Mr Farage’s speech – Lord Robertson said Mr Farage was “parroting the Kremlin Line”, and “producing new excuses for the brutal, unprovoked attack”.

He added: “Saying that we provoked Russia is like saying that if you buy a burglar alarm, in some way you provoke burglars.”

Reform UK was approached to clarify Mr Farage’s comments.