19 JULY 2008, Page 24

Russian vulnerability

Sir: Oleg Gordievsky (Letters, 5 July) dismisses Russia’s perception of its own vulnerability as ‘communist propaganda’. In fact the anxiety borne of inhabiting a land without natural borders has been a constant feature of Russian national life. In 1903, the distinguished historian Milyukov commented that since their emergence from Mongol rule, Russians have been forced to subjugate all other priorities to defence of the motherland, saying: ‘Compelling national need resulted in the creation of an omnipotent state.’ Putin, and now Medvedev, are still striving for omnipotence; they can now use Nato’s expansion along their borders as evidence of a compelling national need. Charlotte Hobson

St Mawes, Cornwall