UK's Johnson to visit Saudi Arabia for oil supply talks
ABC News
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to visit Saudi Arabia and meet with its crown prince for talks on oil supplies, as he stressed that the West must end its dependence on Russian energy
LONDON -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to visit Saudi Arabia and meet with its crown prince for talks on oil supplies, as he stressed that the West must end its dependence on Russian energy.
Johnson will also use the trip to press Saudi Arabia to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a Foreign Office official said Tuesday.
Ahead of the trip, Johnson said Western leaders made a “terrible mistake” by letting Russian President Vladimir Putin “get away with” annexing Crimea in 2014. He wrote in the Daily Telegraph that Western “addiction” to Russian fuel had emboldened Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
“We cannot go on like this. The world cannot be subject to this continuous blackmail,” Johnson wrote. “As long as the West is economically dependent on Putin, he will do all he can to exploit that dependence."