Dear Sir,
The crisis involving Russia, the Crimea and the Ukraine are showing how ineffective Britain’s influence is there.
Apart from threatening unspecified consequences of continued intervention all we may do is to limit entry visas for specific Russians (Daily Bulletin Sunday/Monday).
This is unlikely for as well as being linked to Putin these same oligarchies are also linked to billions of dollars which London wants regardless of its provenance.
The fall of the USSR was a little over 20 years ago. Then everything was owned by everyone with no one owning anything in particular (a short definition of Communism).
Now Russia has the largest number of new billionaires in the world and the UK is one of their play grounds. Many of them have or had close links to the government – the source of their unbelievable acquisition of the ex-wealth of the people of Russia.
These same robbed people have fought and refought, lost and regained these obscure lands north of the Black Sea from the French, British, Turks and Germans and I’m only going back over modern history.
Who in Britain hasn’t heard of the Crimea? Memories of the Charge of the Light Brigade and Florence Nightingale are still drummed up to raise our national pride.
Multiply this 10 fold to even come close to feelings among Russian Patriots for these lands. We interfere at our peril.
Mike Lillico
Playa de Palma