5 JULY 2008, Page 28

The point about Russia

Sir: Charlotte Hobson (Books, 28 June) obviously does not know Russia very well and does not like it. She did not read Jonathan Dimbleby’s book with due attention as she fails to understand its central point, which the author expresses with such brilliance: the mentality and the way of life of Russia were mutilated by Stalinist repression.

Hobson uses a lot of old-fashioned stereotypes. For example, she writes about Russia’s sense of insecurity born of invasions, an old communist propaganda thesis. But ask yourself who invaded Poland six times, three times in the 20th century alone? Who kept half of Europe under its heel for half a century?

Oleg Gordievsky

London WC1