Nigel Farage's latest rally speech has been interrupted by political activists lowering a banner of Vladimir Putin behind him on stage.
The right-wing Reform UK leader was speaking at a rally in Walton on the Naze, in south-east England, on Saturday evening when a group called Led by Donkeys carried out the stunt.
As Mr Farage spoke to the audience at the Columbine Centre, a banner of a beaming Mr Putin giving a thumbs-up was lowered behind him, with "I [love] Nigel" printed in bold.
Some audience members could initially be heard laughing before Mr Farage noticed the sign and asked, "Who put that up there?"
The footage then jumps to a clip of Mr Farage saying someone at the centre "needs to get the sack" and his supporters roar in agreement.
When there seems to be issues removing the banner, audience members begin to chant "rip it down".
Mr Farage is running as MP in the seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea in his eighth attempt to win a seat in the House of Commons.
Political activism group Led by Donkeys claimed responsibility for the incident and shared footage on social media platform X.
"We just dropped in on Farage's election rally with a beaming picture of Putin," the group wrote.
"Nigel was not pleased."
"Nigel Farage says Putin is the world leader he 'admires the most' and blames the West for Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine," the group added in the footage.
It comes after Mr Farage said the West "provoked" Russia to invade Ukraine because of the eastward expansion of the European Union and NATO.
While his remarks drew strong criticism across the British political spectrum, he went on to repeat them during campaigning.
Activists and staff campaigning for the party have also been at the centre of controversy this week following a Channel 4 News investigation.
Footage filmed covertly was aired on the channel showing a Reform UK volunteer in Clacton saying people seeking asylum should be shot.
"Get the young [army] recruits there with guns on the f***ing beach, target practice. F***ing just shoot them," he says in the video.
The same volunteer went on to describe Islam as a "disgusting cult" and used a racial slur to describe Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has since described the remarks as hurtful.
The volunteer has apologised and says his personal views do not reflect those of Reform UK.
Some of Mr Farage's senior campaign figures were also filmed speaking offensively by Channel 4's hidden camera.
Pointing out a LGBT flag on a passing police vehicle, one man says: "you see that f***** degenerate flag on the front bonnet [of the police car], what are the Old Bill [police] doing promoting that crap?"
Ahead of the UK elections on July 4, the ABC has also uncovered a network of pro-Russian Facebook pages interfering in the election.
Five coordinated Facebook pages spreading Kremlin talking points and posting in support of Mr Farage's populist party — a key challenger to the Conservatives — were monitored by the ABC.
Disinformation experts said the network's activity had the hallmarks of a Russian influence operation and the Conservative Party described it as "highly alarming".
