Brexit has been blamed for contributing to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with one commentator claiming Vladimir Putin ‘used’ the UK’s exit from the EU to ‘destabilize’ the West.

On the seventh day of the conflict, Russia bombarded Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, with missiles and rockets, targeting public and cultural infrastructure, including an opera house, concert hall and government offices.

One of the recent aspects of politics that some people believe is to blame for current events is the Brexit vote.

John Nicholson, writing in an article for Football 365 this week, argued that football needs to “decouple from the big bucks”, drawing on various examples of oligarchs and sheikhs owning football clubs.

He argued that Vladimir Putin used such tactics alongside manipulating Donald Trump and Brexit to achieve his goals, suggesting that the referendum played part in today’s war.

Speaking of the UK government, Mr Nicholson wrote: “Too bad they didn’t think the super rich foreign nationals, oligarchs, sheikhs and states who own our football clubs and much of the infrastructure and public services in this country were in fact abandoning our nation to powers that do not have our best interests at heart.

“Vladimir Putin wanted to destabilize and weaken the EU and he used Brexit and Donald Trump to do that.

“It boosted Putin’s self-confidence.

“Look how he was able to manipulate the fools in the West.

“Now look where this led.”