Should Cameron back sanctions on Russia?

AHEAD of the G20 meeting in Queensland, Vladimir Putin has sent four warships in a thinly-veiled threat to Australia. He didn’t like being admonished by our Prime Minister for the shooting down of the Malaysian plane over Ukraine by a Russian rocket. Hundreds of Dutch nationals were killed, as well as 38 Australians, including three beautiful children travelling with their grandfather. The ex-KGB Mr Putin shows no remorse. There were people from the UK killed, too, and anyone dealing with the Russians should be very careful.

marianne Stevens, mandurah, Western australia. David Cameron, having fallen in with the expansionist eU in its interventions in Ukraine, has the nerve to suggest it was Russia which ‘provoked a new Cold War’. He and German leader Angela Merkel are playing a dangerous game. they are either oblivious of the crypto-fascism so prominent on the streets of Kiev or they are playing with the fire of another drang nach osten — Germany’s historic yearning for the east — at a time when the european economy is in dire straits. German exports to Russia from January to August have fallen by 16.6 per cent year on year. the eU’s sanctions on Russia will knock 0.2 to 0.3 per cent off eU growth this year and next. that means a lot of jobs — all to punish a Russian president ludicrously accused of all the sins of the old soviet communism which he has thoroughly rejected.

rodney Atkinson, stocksfield, northumberland. ON NOVEMBER 10, I attended a presentation of medals by the Russians to survivors of the Arctic convoys. My dad was a recipient. The speech by Minister Counsellor Alexander Kramarenko was moving and shows how much the Russians still feel a huge sense of gratitude to those who were part of those dangerous but vital supply convoys. My dad is 91 and recently needed dental treatment so he could eat properly. He had to pay more than £250 for it. He has served his country, paid his taxes and never claimed anything in benefits, yet the NHS refused to contribute a penny. I don’t know how Russian health provision works, but I bet they treat their elderly veterans more generously than we do.

Penny Knight, callington, cornwall.