Johnson compares Putin to drug dealer ahead of Saudi Arabia trip
Boris Johnson has compared Vladimir Putin to a drug dealer who managed to hook western nations on Russian supplies of oil and gas, ahead of a trip to the Middle East in an attempt to diversify the sources of Britain’s energy imports.
The UK prime minister urged European countries to “get ourselves off that addiction” and said he wanted support from “the widest possible coalition” to help offset the pressures caused by spiralling oil and gas prices.
As he prepared to set off for talks with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Johnson was questioned about the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. US intelligence agencies found last year that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, approved the killing – though he has denied this.
Johnson said: “I think that we’ve got a global crisis in which it’s obvious that the Russian aggression in Ukraine has helped to trigger a spike in the price of hydrocarbons, a spike in the price of oil.
“It’s vital – if we are going to stand up to Putin’s bullying, if we are going to avoid being blackmailed by Putin in the way that so many western countries sadly have been – we have got to get ourselves off Russian hydrocarbons.”
He added that the brutality of Russian forces in Ukraine was “quite unbelievable” and the indiscriminate targeting of civilians and bombing of cities was last seen “in the European continent 80 years ago”.
Johnson is likely to confront Prince Mohammed over the recent execution of 81 men in 24 hours. However, Downing Street has refused to say if he would also bring up the murder of Khashoggi.
As well as pressing Saudi Arabia to raise its production of oil and gas to make up for a reduced supply from Russia, the prime minister is expected to discuss
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