Nigel Farage has accused the European Union of having "bloody hands" over its involvement in the current crisis in Ukraine by showing imperialist ambitions. The Ukip leader said that the British government and EU had "geed up" those behind the uprising that ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.
Protesters took to the streets of Kiev following Yanukovych's decision to reject an association deal with the EU, preferring closer ties with Russia, with dozens killed in the violence. Following his loss of power, the Russian-leaning Crimean peninsula has been effectively annexed by Moscow and there are fears that president Vladimir Putin could make a move on the country's eastern regions.
During a head-to-head LBC debate with Nick Clegg on the European Union, Farage said: "We should hang our heads in shame." He said the British Government had encouraged the EU to pursue an "imperialist, expansionist" agenda.
"We have given a false series of hopes to a group of people in the western Ukraine and so geed up were they that they actually toppled their own elected leader," he said. "That provoked Mr Putin and I think the European Union, frankly, does have blood on its hands in the Ukraine. I don't want a European army, navy, air force or a European foreign policy. It has not been a thing for good in the Ukraine."
