World Cup boycott would Put boot in
I DON’T think Vladimir Putin could care less about embassy staff being sent home in response to the Salisbury nerve agent attack. In Russia he is omnipotent.
The best thing we could do to really make him think is to withdraw from the World Cup and try to get other countries who are taking part and have also expelled diplomats, to also withdraw from the tournament.
Putin would not like that as it would lead to a loss of money and prestige. Also, our fans who plan to attend England’s matches are now sitting targets for the Russian Ultra gangs. I fear for them and believe the team should withdraw now.
Dave Pickering Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancs
What a fantastic response from the USA and the rest of Europe to the nerve agent attack on British soil by Russia. Vladimir Putin thinks he can treat the rest of the world with contempt, as he does his own people. He stays in power with the threat of assassination to anyone who opposes him. In short, he rules by fear. Well, this response shows him if his people are afraid to confront him, we in the democratic world are not.
Roger Grant, Thurnscoe South Yorks
In the modern world it is hard to believe what is going on with Russia. If Putin is adamant they had no hand in the nerve agent attack, why is he going on the defensive? So many countries have backed Britain now that it makes you wonder what our Government knows. And Putin needs to explain why he is prepared to put the world back years.
Adrian Ottley Southend-on-Sea, Essex
It appears Putin’s desperate need to affirm his power is behind this low-grade assault on another country. He has practised for years in Russia’s own backyard and then Syria gave him the opportunity to kill with impunity.
The next step? To goad more advanced countries into giving him the chance to prove to his people what a man he thinks he is. Does he really want war – one in which there will be no winners, only losers?
Alan Baber, Weston-super-Mare Somerset
I believe there are many questions surrounding the attack on the Skripals. Could a member or members of the Russian community living here have built a lab in secret to produce Novichok? Could it be part of a mafia turf war developing in Russia? Or could the Skripals have been used as guinea pigs? Logically, all are possibilities.
Keith Longmore Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk
I am afraid these tit-for-tat expulsions of embassy staff achieve little. We should boycott the World Cup and urge our allies to do the same. Putin cannot be trusted and he needs to be taught a firm lesson that he cannot get away with such acts of aggression with impunity.
J McPherson, Stockport Gtr Manchester
Warmonger Putin has seriously miscalculated the strength of the West’s response against his despicable attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal. He has pushed the world to the brink of another Cold War and his people will not thank him for it.
Gareth Johnson Gillingham, Kent