Taking Putin's assets would 'hurt him most' says Reform
But Richard Tice said no NATO for Ukraine if it was a dealbreaker for Putin
Reform UK's Deputy Leader Richard Tice has suggested that Ukraine should not be admitted to NATO if it is an absolute red line for Russian President Vladimir Putin in peace talks.
Tice, who also serves as Reform’s foreign affairs spokesman, said that Western security guarantees were more important than Kyiv’s entry into the trans-Atlantic defence alliance, particularly if it proved a deal-breaker to any peace deal.
The Reform MP for Boston and Skegness made the comments before Mr Trump’s Alaska summit with the Russian leader and the European leaders’ group meeting at the White House with Ukraine’s President Volodymr Zelensky.
The US and Europe are now thrashing out a security guarantee they can offer Ukraine. President Trump wants to organise a bilateral and trilateral meeting between Zelensky and Putin and then including himself.
Speaking exclusively to the Latika Takes Podcast Mr Tice said Kyiv had to be prepared to accept an ‘uncomfortable compromise’ for an ‘enduring settlement’.
‘If Putin said, “okay, we are right on a deal,” but the absolute break point for him is if Ukraine joins NATO within a defining period, does everyone walk away and say, “no, no, let's keep killing each other because Ukraine wants to join NATO”?’ Tice said.
‘Or do you say, “well, there might be a different way of doing this?”’
Ukraine has stated that the only credible security guarantee to prevent future Russian invasions is NATO membership, due to the Alliance's collective defence clause.
The UK is one of the biggest supporters of Ukraine joining NATO, but it is opposed by the US.
Tice described the US position as ‘more thoughtful’ and said what really mattered were the security guarantees that NATO, the US and the West could offer Ukraine.
‘That's the big question because to get an enduring peace, you have to have robust security guarantees that deter Russia-stroke-Putin from ever trying any of that nonsense again.
‘That’s really the critical thing.’
He denied that this constituted outsourcing Ukraine’s choices over its future to Russia.
‘You're not outsourcing the choice, you're trying to negotiate,’ he said.
‘Membership of NATO is not a definition of sovereignty...
‘No one's in position A, that's the bottom line. If you want to get to a peaceful solution, where, as a sovereign nation, you can make a choice, you wouldn't start from here.’
He continued: ‘We are where we are, it's a hideous place, and Putin's to blame for the place we're in.
‘But if you want to get out of it, you've got to look at all the various pieces on the map of which NATO membership is one of them and see if, behind closed doors, you can get to an acceptable settlement.’
Both Labour and the Tories have attacked Reform and its leader, Nigel Farage, as being sympathetic towards Putin and parrotting pro-Kremlin lines.
Farage, the MP for Clacton, said before the last UK general election in July 2024 that ‘we [the West] provoked this war’, and has previously said he admired Putin as a ‘political operator’.
Tice, who has driven medical aid to Ukraine, said his leader had been taken out of context.
‘Neither of those things is true; they were taken out of context by the mainstream media,’ he said.
‘There’s only one person who provoked this Ukraine war, and that is Putin.
‘Nigel was speaking about the risks in Ukraine over a decade ago. And those warnings that he gave should be recognised.’
He added: ‘We want peace and you’ve got to be prepared to think outside the box and try for peace and negotiate for peace, knowing that will involve some difficult compromises.’
Take Putin’s money
Tice called on the government to go further when it came to using the estimated £330bn in Russian money and bonds in overseas bank accounts seized by Western governments at the start of the full-scale invasion.
Around £25bn of Russian assets are held in British bank accounts and government bonds. Tice said these should be fully seized, because ‘it's one of the things that would upset Putin the most’.
He said: ‘In terms of helping get to a ceasefire and a negotiated settlement... what we do know about him [Putin] is he likes money. Lots of it. He views that money as his own, and if the West takes it, then that will bring him into a different place.’
The bulk of the £330bn in frozen Russian central bank assets is held in European clearing houses, mostly in Belgium.
Western governments have taken the interest generated by those assets and diverted them to Ukraine to help fund its fight against Russia’s invasion.
But out of fears that Russia could retaliate, that it would spark a flight of capital from other authoritarian governments and regimes as well as affect the value of the dollar, pound and Euro, Western governments have been reluctant to seize the assets themselves.
Tice said, however, that if the interest could be used without repercussions, so could the capital.
‘We often hear government spokespeople saying we should lead by example,’ he said.
‘Let's lead by example. Take it, use it, and then basically demand that others do the same.
‘You have to try things to get to places, and I just don't buy this British Foreign Office line of: “It's too complicated”.’
‘It might upset a few people. I don't care if it's complicated, work 24/7, make it uncomplicated.’
Former Tory prime ministers Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson have also voiced support for using the assets since leaving Downing Street, although neither did when in power.
London-based economist
said it was a good idea whose time had come a long time ago.‘It’s easy to do, it’s just sitting in bank accounts doing nothing,’ he said.
‘The UK can lead, absolutely, it sends a very strong signal so well done to Tice and other people who are willing to do this.
‘The problem is the decision has been moved from our leaderships to the economic institutions like treasuries, the central banks, whose job it is to say no to stuff,” he said in an interview by phone.
‘They don’t like doing things out of the box that are complicated.
‘Their specialisms are not national security.’
He said the threat of non-democratic governments taking their money out of Western financial systems was overblown.
‘There are no alternative liquid markets if you’re Saudi Arabia or China to put your assets,’ he said.
‘They don’t trust each other — where are they going to move them to?’
Mr Ash said the assets would have paid for Ukraine’s total war effort and enabled them to buy the weapons to beat Russia already.
He added that any Ukrainian loss would pose the greatest threat to the Euro as a Russian military victory in Eastern Europe would start the unravelling of the European project.
A Labour source told PoliticsHome: ‘This government doesn’t take any lessons from a party led by a Putin apologist.
‘Unlike Reform, this Labour government has been a rock solid supporter of Ukraine, and we will continue to be, including through pursuing all lawful avenues to ensure Russia pays for the horrific damage it is causing Ukraine.’
This is an extended version of an article first published by Politics Home
Tice appears to be a "Chamberlain" style appeaser. Reform too often attracted to simplistic solutions of an authoritarian nature - Tice always ends up shouting "nonsense" to anyone with an alternative viewpoint. But in broader terms why is Russia often considered a world power given the size of its economy which is smaller than the larger European ones.
Why to we seem to accept that Russia can dictate whether Ukraine can be a member of NATO? Why does Trump say that it would be "insulting" Russia to allow Ukraine to join NATO? Russia did nothing when Finland joined NATO in 2023. Nor when Sweden joined in 2024. Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Finland all share land boarders with Russia and all are NATO members as are Sweden and Norway, both sharing maritime boarders with Russia.
Trump has given Putin control of this narrative and the "coalition of the willing" is doing little to regain the upper hand. It's embarrassing.