Tall tales from Russia

SIR – Few cultures can match Russia for the quality of its literature, in particular that of its fiction: the breadth, humanity, compassion and diversity.

Its masters – Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Gogol, Pushkin, Turgenev and Lermontov – will all be turning in their graves at the travesty of the Russian version of the Salisbury atrocity: an account made even more shameful for its endorsement by the Russian president. Tony Crabb

Walton-on-thames, Surrey

SIR – In view of all that has happened in Salisbury, surely it is high time that British citizens implemented a people’s boycott of Russia. No more tours to St Petersburg and Moscow.

It is the least we can do to support our Government in its efforts to impose further sanctions. Frew Mcmillan

Bristol

SIR – In your report (September 14) on the Novichok attack suspects’ account of their time in Britain, a government source said that Old Sarum is a “place that many Wiltshire residents had not heard of ”.

I was born at Old Sarum and it is actually a place that any keen tourist wishing to trace the history of Salisbury Cathedral would want to visit, as it is the site of the original medieval cathedral. The stone footprint of the building is there, together with an explanatory sign.

However, I would suggest that if Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov were able to walk between the two sites and also to sit in the park enjoying a coffee in the time they spent in the city, then they are athletes of an Olympic standard.

Colonel Philip Barry (retd)

Dover, Kent