UK top politicians clash over EU, Ukraine

The UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg clash over the EU and Ukraine during a televised debate.

The two politicians clashed over whether the UK should remain in the European Union (EU) or leave the bloc during a televised debate on BBC on Wednesday.

Clegg called his anti-EU opponent an isolationist, warning that an in/out referendum on Britain’s EU membership could weaken the country’s global influence and its access to the EU’s single market.

But Farage accused the Liberal Democrat leader of “willfully lying” to British people about how many laws were imposed on the UK by the EU.

Farage said Britain should decide its own future without the interference of Brussels.

The UK’s anti-EU party leader also admired Russian president Vladimir Putin for his determination to resist EU “expansionism” into Eastern Europe.

He also said the leaders of the three main British political parties had provoked the Russian leader’s actions over Ukraine.

He went on to say that Putin had “outwitted and outclassed” western leaders and accused Ukrainian rebels of having “toppled a democratically elected leader.”

“Nigel Farage says he admires the way Vladimir Putin has played – as if it is a game,” Clegg said.

The results of two polls, conducted by YouGov and ICM/Guardian after the debate, showed that nearly 70 percent of viewers thought the UKIP leader had performed better than his Liberal Democrat opponent.

British Conservative Party and main opposition Labour Party stayed away from the debate.