Nigel Farage has binned off Sir Keir Starmer's demand for an investigation into Reform UK's links with Russia.
The Prime Minister made the call last week after the party's former Welsh leader was thrown behind bars for accepting pro-Russian bribes.
Rubbishing the accusation of links with Moscow, Mr Farage responded to GB News' Katherine Forster: "The Putin stuff's nonsense.
"Just because I said in 2013 that I admired him as a political operator, but didn't like him as a human being, before the Ukrainian invasion.
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"The Queen met Putin after I'd said that - whether she was a Putin sympathiser, perhaps you'd better ask the Prime Minister, I don't know."
The party fell under fire when Nathan Gill was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he was paid £40,000 to deliver pro-Russia statements in the European Parliament while an MEP.
Last week, Sir Keir Starmer told GB News' Christopher Hope that an investigation must be subsequently held to ascertain "pro-Russian links".
Mr Farage continued: "Did Ukip have a problem with an MEP who clearly was corrupt? Yes, it did.
"Did he join Reform very briefly in Wales? He did, and very briefly, he was leader. I can't investigate Ukip in the European Parliament in 2018.
The Reform chief said it was 'simply not possible' to conduct a probe into the matter
|GB NEWS
"How do I do that? Can I read people's emails? Can I take their mobile phones? How on earth can I investigate that?"
Instead, Mr Farage said he would welcome a broader investigation due to increasing concerns over Chinese influence, which has been the subject of ever-increasing concern in Westminster.
Earlier this month, MI5 warned parliamentarians of the rising risk from Chinese spies after the security agency raised concerns over two LinkedIn profiles, used on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of State Security.
Labour is currently expected to give the green light to planning permission, allowing the super Chinese embassy to be built in the heart of London, right by the Tower of London.
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Zia Yusuf and Nigel Farage spoke at a conference after the Budget
|GB NEWS
The final decision, which is expected on December 10, will be made by Housing Secretary Steve Reed.
Although a formal decision is yet to be confirmed, the speculated decision has spurred a slew of criticism targeted at Labour's relationship with Beijing.
"I'm worried about people that should be on spy trials that suddenly are not," Mr Farage told GB News.
"I'm worried about a giant embassy. They were some of the most important communication cables and sections in London.
"I'm worried very much indeed by the level of Chinese influence there appears to be, including an MP who's taken £500,000 from a Chinese spy. But we don't talk about that."
A former shadow minister, who currently sits as a Labour MP, Barry Gardiner, received £500,000 over six years from an alleged Chinese Government agent linked to the Chinese Communist Party.
"So if we're going to have an investigation into foreign money, it would need to be done by the authorities in this country and they would need to have real power. Real power," he told Katherine.
"I haven't got the power to go back seven or eight years and investigate people's messages. I simply can't do it. It's just not possible."
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