Europe and Russia

SIR – Your report (“EU’s Russian fuel spending dwarfs Kyiv aid budget”, April 7) reveals how hard Europeans are trying to cling on to the GermanyRussia co-prosperity sphere.

It also shows how far European leaders, especially German chancellors Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel, have led Europe down the garden path.

Vladimir Putin thinks Europe is addicted to comfortable living and lacks the moral fibre to put up a proper fight. But if he also enjoys a ridiculously opulent lifestyle, and if corruption really is rampant within a Russian establishment that includes the military, this would explain his humiliation in Ukraine.

Gerald Heath

Corsham,Wiltshire

SIR – If Germany is unwilling to stop bankrolling Mr Putin by buying Russia’s fossil fuels, then at what point do British consumers consider boycotting German goods?

Duncan Reeve

Exmouth, Devon

SIR – What is the point of signing any treaty with a country to which the whole concept of truth is alien?

Russia has continually lied about this war, stating right up to the very day it invaded that it was not going to invade. Its constant denial of killing of civilians is ludicrous when the whole world sees what is really happening nightly on their television screens.

It is therefore fair to assume that Russia will ignore any peace treaty or ceasefire agreement when it suits it to do so, and then blame Ukraine for the breach. The only thing Russia acknowledges is power. Ukraine must defeat Russia on the battlefield, and the rest of the world should assist in this. Geoff Neden

Diddlebury, Shropshire