In its hybrid war, Russia uses energy dependency as a weapon

SIR – About 40 per cent of gas consumed in Germany is imported from Russia and this is expected to increase to over 50 per cent by 2025. Germany is also a major importer of Russian oil and coal.

Apparently the EU is formally backing Britain over the Salisbury spy poisoning. But with Germany’s energy-dependency on Russia, the EU is clearly unlikely to take any effective action against Russia. That is why Britain is a member of Nato. Gerald Heath

Corsham, Wiltshire

SIR – Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former secretary general of Nato (Comment, March 16), refers to the “hybrid war” being waged by Russia; this includes cyber attacks, hacking and disinformation campaigns.

As the defence attaché in Moscow, I narrowly escaped expulsion in the wake of the Litvinenko murder.

The Skripal affair comes as no surprise whatsoever; neither do the sensible conclusions drawn by our Government. But I am now a partner in a geophysical consultancy and have been stunned by the highly successful propaganda campaign against the production of natural gas by hydraulic fracturing that has been waged by the anti-fracking brigade.

It seems to be lost on them that gas power stations are the perfect supplement to solar and wind power, capable of being brought on line rapidly and with half the carbon emissions of coal and oil.

Who is financing this campaign and why? Who stands to lose economic and political leverage if Britain becomes self-sufficient in natural gas? Air Cdre Andrew Verdon (retd) Odiham, Hampshire

SIR – Charles Moore (Comment, March 19) mentions that in 2006, President Vladimir Putin “brought in a law which made state murder abroad legal”.

There has been little reference to this, either by the Government or the BBC, in discussing the case that the attempted murders in Salisbury are sponsored by the Russian state. Walter Clark

Cobham, Surrey

SIR – As she expelled 23 Russian diplomats, Theresa May declared there was “no place for these people or their money in our country”. Mrs May leads a party that has accepted £820,000 in donations from Russians since 2016. Sasha Simic

London N16

SIR – Expelling the British Council from Russia denies ordinary Russians access to learning English from a well-established academic organisation.

Not so for President Putin’s wealthy friends here in Britain. They boast of sending their children to our preparatory and public schools and to our universities – paid for by suitcases of money robbed from the Russian people denied the same opportunities. Lady Fretwell

London SW7