Letters | 16 January 2010

Gangster paradise

Sir: Owen Matthews’s article (‘Something rotten in the state of Russia’, 9 January) brilliantly encapsulates and explains the condition of Russia today. But he omits to mention that the subversion of the judicial system and pervasive corruption have been in evidence for a long time, which does raise the question of whether Hermitage capital should have been in this European country at all. The murder of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 and the refusal of the Russians to extradite the chief suspect constituted — unless you are wilfully blind — a good reason to suspect that Russia is run by crooks. The 2005 mock trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the CEO of Yukos Oil, and his punishment with an eight-year prison sentence for trying to engage in politics, was another clear warning. There are blatant and numerous cases of illegality, such as the bombing of civilians and the razing of Grozny carried out by the Russian military in Chechnya under orders from Putin. The 1999 apartment building explosions, never properly investigated but attributed to agents of the FSB, could also be taken as grounds for supposing that Russia is not exactly a safe country. Considering the volume of available evidence establishing the real nature of Russia today, the question must be: how can it be ethical for foreigners to invest in Russia? The death in prison of Sergei Magnitsky, Hermitage’s lawyer, was surely a consequence of pursuing the profit motive beyond proper bounds.

Jeremy Putley
Harrogate, Yorkshire

Can’t count on Cameron

Sir: Years ago I wrote an article in the Sunday Telegraph championing Mrs Thatcher on the grounds that at least we could always rely on her to protect us from the trade unions and inflation. If only we could be equally certain that David Cameron would do the same.

Peregrine Worsthorne
Buckinghamshire

Licence to caution

Sir: In his account of the recent visit he received from two of our enquiry officers (The Spectator’s Notes, 9 January), Charles Moore incorrectly claims that they are not empowered to administer a caution regarding his refusal to pay the TV Licence fee.