Boris Johnson compared Vladimir Putin to a drug dealer who had got western nations hooked on his supply of oil and gas.
The Prime Minister likened western nations to addicts who were addicted to Russia's hydrocarbons.
Tonight Mr Johnson will jet to Saudi Arabia to push for more Saudi oil and gas to make up the gap.
That's sparked claims of hypocrisy, given the country's human rights record - it executed 81 men on Saturday.
Speaking ahead of his trip, Mr Johnson said: " Vladimir Putin over the last yeast has been like a pusher, feeding an addiction in western countries to his hydrocarbons.
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"We need to get ourselves off that addiction."
Asked about the mass executions in Saudi Arabia and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Mr Johnson stressed the need to build the "widest possible coalition" to respond to Russia.
He said: "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.
"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 and that is what the Uk is helping to do."
MPs lined up yesterday to urge Mr Johnson to cancel the trip.
But today he came out fighting, saying the West must end its “addiction” to Russian energy.
Despite previously seeking to blame the EU over the 2014 annexation of Crimea, Mr Johnson said Western leaders had made a "terrible mistake" by letting Vladimir Putin "get away with" it.
Writing in the Telegraph he added: “We cannot go on like this. The world cannot be subject to this continuous blackmail.
”As long as the West is economically dependent on Putin, he will do all he can to exploit that dependence… And that is why that dependence must - and will - now end."
Last week the PM pledged a long-term plan - which is now delayed to later this month - and announced the UK will phase out use of Russian oil, but not gas, this year.
