PM: Putin like a ‘drug dealer’ who has got the West ‘hooked’ on Russian oil and gas

Boris Johnson has said Vladimir Putin is like a drug dealer who has got Western nations hooked on Russian oil and gas.

“Vladimir Putin over the last years has been like a pusher, feeding an addiction in Western countries to his hydrocarbons,” the prime minister said on Tuesday.

“We need to get ourselves off that addiction.”

He said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has “helped to trigger a spike” in the price of oil.

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“It is vital if we’re going to stand up to Putin’s bullying, we’re going to avoid being blackmailed by Putin in the way that so many Western countries sadly have been,” he added.

“We’ve got to get ourselves off Russian hydrocarbons.”

In other developments:

• More than 100,000 Britons register interest to house Ukrainian refugees
• UK announces sanctions against 370 more Russian nationals and entities
• UK bans luxury goods exports to Russia and hikes import tariffs on products – including vodka
• Briton who travelled to warzone to join military fight against Russia leaves over ‘suicide mission’ fears
• Employee interrupts Russian news programme with anti-war slogan

West needs to talk to other producers

Mr Johnson added that the UK and the rest of the West needs to “talk to other producers around the world about how we can move away from that dependency”.

The PM is heading to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday evening where he reportedly hopes he can persuade the kingdom to boost its own production of oil and gas to allow the West to wean itself off Russian supplies.

He has been criticised for being close to Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman – known as MBS – who is accused of being behind the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The kingdom also executed 81 people at the weekend.

We need to ‘wean ourselves off Russian hydrocarbons’

But Mr Johnson defended his trip, saying: “I think what the world is seeing is the return in Ukraine to the kind of brutality, the kind of absolutely indiscriminate bombing of civilian centres, of great cities, that we last saw in the European continent 80 years ago.

“This is quite unbelievable what is happening now in our continent.

“And we need to make sure that we build the strongest, widest possible coalition to ensure that Vladimir Putin does not succeed, that we wean ourselves off Russian hydrocarbons.”

Last week, the UK government announced it will phase out imports of Russian oil and oil products by the end of 2022 and will consider banning natural gas from the country.

British oil and gas company BP offloaded its 19.75% stake in state-owned Russian oil giant Rosneft at the end of February.

And Shell followed suit by abandoning Russia entirely.

The abandonment of major Western oil companies has sent oil prices surging over fears of restricted supply and more disruption.