The West’s cold war

SIR – If Vladimir Putin remains a dangerous man, as you suggest (Leading article, October 5), then Western governments are largely to blame. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russians threw in the sponge and offered to join Nato.

Ignoring the lessons of the Treaty of Versailles, the offer was ignored.

Nato reneged on an assurance that it would not expand to the borders of Russia. Neither US strategists, nor Western defence industries, nor Hollywood, could envisage a world without Russia as an enemy. In effect, we declared a new cold war, and so can hardly be outraged that Russia should wage it. Piers Paul Read

London W12