Why Russia's defensive
Sir: The only pertinent fact from Fraser Nelson's anti-Russia diatribe last week is that the country's defence budget is 5 per cent that of America's. (The New Cold War, 14 July). The rest of the article is scaremongering. An evening spent in Moscow should convince anyone that Russia has not left `the orbit of the West', rather that it has embraced our way of life with gusto. Five minutes spent in a supermarket in Saint Petersburg, Saratov or Volgograd nails the lie that `the free market has perished in Russia'. And why should not Russian gas companies start to charge market prices for their output, after years of subsidising countries like the Ukraine?
Mr Nelson condemns Russia for having 'weapons that are deadlier than anything developed by the Soviet Union'. Russian citizens, on the other hand, are probably quite relieved that their military hardware is better now than it was in the late 1980s. Mr Nelson writes about the Topol-M missile tests 'sending a message' to the West. Possibly, but the primary purpose of missile tests is surely to see if the things work properly. Why should we deny Russia the fundamental right to defend itself from external threat? Good for them if their military scientists are better than ours.
President Putin is a genuinely popular politician in his home country, and holds perhaps the most challenging job in the world. He has provided strong leadership to a proud nation that has historically demanded tough leaders. He's not perfect, but Fraser Nelson falls into the trap of judging the President and Russia by 'middle England' standards. He should realise that much of Putin's anti-Nato rhetoric is aimed at a receptive local audience. He should realise that not all of the former Soviet Union's ills (KGB officials, poor infrastructure, lack of a free and fair press etc) can be solved in under two decades.
Stephen Ogden Bowdon, Cheshire Sir: It ain't just Russia's weakness that leads it to update its nuclear arsenal, but America's foreign policy. Quite simply, when the sole superpower is claiming the right to intervene anywhere it pleases, an effective nuclear deterrent is the only sure way to put your country 'off limits' to such intervention. The Russians (or indeed the Iranians) would be crazy not to insist on having one.
Michael W Stone Peterborough
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