If the West offers Russia an inch of Ukraine, it will try to take a mile
SIR – President Joe Biden said that an “invasion” of Ukraine would mean war, but an “incursion” into Ukraine will only trigger sanctions (report, January 21).
President Vladimir Putin must be very grateful to have his opposition reveal its hand so openly. Now, with Mr Biden’s tacit permission, I would expect Russian tanks to roll into Ukraine in the next few days.
This is reminiscent of Germany swallowing Czechoslovakia in two bites prior to the Second World War. The Allies agreed then that Hitler could make an “incursion” into land on which Czechoslovakia had built all its defences. This “incursion” was followed by invasion. Despite Britain having a defence pact with Czechoslovakia, we turned our back and tolerated the German occupation.
That weakness convinced Germany that Britain and France would likewise simply stand by if it next invaded Poland. Hitler’s misjudgment triggered the Second World War.
Feeding a crocodile morsels of flesh simply inflames its appetite to raven for the whole animal. Alan Stedall
Sutton Coldfield
SIR – The Russia crisis reflects the utter failure of Western governments to understand that country’s needs and fears since Peter the Great 300 years ago, and certainly post 1991.
Russia is dominated by a deeprooted insecurity and sense of marginalisation, and the West’s policy has been to consolidate that anxiety by continuing to marginalise it. It would have been far better to have cultivated a thriving economic relationship and allied with Russia to counteract instability in the Middle East. Dorian Wood
Castle Cary, Somerset
SIR – Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s foreign minister, rejected Ukrainian requests for arms for self-defence (report, January 18), saying that
Germany would not supply lethal weapons for historic reasons.
Russia has, however, been able to buy Bavarian high-performance machine tools for use in the manufacture of, among other things, cruise missiles that can be fitted with nuclear warheads.
German pacifism is not as pacifist as people think when it comes to selling highly profitable precision products. Gerald Heath
Kingsdown, Wiltshire
SIR – Who first remarked that Russia seeks secure borders, but that her idea of a secure border is one with Russians on both sides? Dr John Urquhart
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk