Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond claimed Russia was "the key driver of the military disaster that's happening on the ground" in Syria.
It was the sharpest criticism of Moscow by a British government minister since the Russian aerial campaign began.
He launched the broadside while touring a refugee camp in Jordan ahead of a humanitarian conference of donor countries on Thursday.
The politician said Russia's bombing of areas in southern Syria had renewed the flow of refugees into the Zaatari refugee camp and others.
"A few months ago", he said, "there was a steady trickle of people returning to their homes in Syria despite what was going on in the country".
"But that has now stopped and a tide of new refugees is heading in this direction because of the Russian bombing."
And he warned Russia it may be forced to decide between pursuing diplomacy or military action.
Mr Hammond said: "Russia cannot continue to sit at the table as a sponsor of the political process and at the same time be bombing the civilian areas of the groups of people that we believe will form the backbone of the new Syria once Assad has gone."
Russia has insisted it was attacking Islamic State as much as other rebel groups but the UK and others said those claims were groundless.
In reality, Moscow appeared most interested in propping up the failing regime of its ally, President Bashar al Assad.
But its air campaign has made it an indispensable part of the quest for a negotiated end to Syria's five-year-old civil war, which has claimed the lives of over 260,000 people.
It is hard to see how Russia can be forced to adopt a more diplomatic approach and abandon its military campaign if it does not want to.
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