Reform UK candidate says Vladimir Putin 'seemed very good' after meeting him

A REFORM UK candidate was booed at a hustings event after he said Vladimir Putin “seemed very good” after previously meeting him.

The party’s candidate in Salisbury, Julian Malins, made the comments on Sunday evening, June 23, while also saying that Putin “is not the Austrian gentleman with a moustache come alive again”.

The comments made by Malins were within walking distance of where the Salisbury Novichok poisonings happened in 2018.

Malins was responding to a question pitched by a public member about whether a Reform UK government would continue to support Ukraine.

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The Salisbury Journal reported that Malins started his answer by acknowledging that thousands of Ukrainians and Russians have died during the war so far.

He then continued: “We support diplomacy. We support every possible effort to reach a compromise and a settlement over the issues in Ukraine.

“That is what the adults in the room do. Stop the killing and negotiate a proper settlement.”

He then added: “War is not about as it were punishing or in some way running over thousands of young men in tanks and blowing them up because one person takes points of view which you disagree with.

“I have actually met Putin and had a 10-minute chat with him and he seemed very good. He is not the Austrian gentleman with a moustache come alive again.”

There were reports of boos and looks of disgust from the crowd after the 74-year-old finished his answer.

Malins, who does not live in Salisbury, was then accused by an audience member who has taken in two Ukrainian refugees into their home over the last two years of being out of touch with the community.

She said: “I can't believe what I've just heard. How can you in Salisbury, where we had Novichok on our streets, say that?”

The Novichok poisonings were a botched assassination attempt on a former double agent for Russia and Britain, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia.

They were targeted with a chemical nerve agent and rushed to Salisbury District Hospital in March 2018 and were in a critical condition for several weeks.

The UK Government at the time accused Russia of the poisonings and imposed a series of punitive measures.

When approached for clarification of his comments Malins (below) told The National: “I said that Putin was a good 'Russian President' i.e. the kind of President who enjoys majority support of the Russian people.

“This has been demonstrated even by western-funded polling agencies. As such the west has to deal with him on a diplomatic level in order to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ukraine.

“This is hardly controversial, Nigel Farage has done this election a great favour by causing the Ukraine conflict to become now a matter of debate.”