With Farage all over our TV screens again, this deserves a revisit.
On September 16th, 2014, Farage and Nathan Gill made speeches in the European Parliament parroting the same Russian propaganda lies.
Could this have just been a coincidence? It seems unlikely.
Farage and Gill both used the expression "poking the Russian bear."
They both parroted Russian lies about NATO and EU expansion.
They both called Ukraine "The Ukraine," a term which refers back to the old Slavic word for borderland, which Russia uses to deny Ukraine's nationhood. Russia's basic justification for invading Ukraine, is that it is not a real country; that it is a fake nation, whose deluded Nazified inhabitants fail to recognise that they are Russian.
Farage and Gill both repeated the Russian claim that the real threat was Muslim extremism, a claim that Putin had very effectively used to distract Western leaders from Russian aggression and its hybrid war against the West. It's a tactic that Russia is still using via its Western tools.
The Reform UK leadership tried to pretend Farage had nothing more than a passing acquaintance with Gill, a claim that was soon exposed as a lie.
The Kremlin promoted Farage on Russian TV, doubtless hoping he would be of useful service to Russia. He has undoubtedly more than fulfilled their expectations.
Farage poses as a patriot, but the opposite is true. He has acted as the vehicle of hostile foreign interference in our politics, from both Russia and the American far-right.