Letters: Who’s responsible for Putin’s rise if not Russians?

Russian misrule

Sir: Your editorial (‘Sanction Schroder’, 21 May) laments that western sanctions may be harming ordinary Russians, given that they too ‘are victims of Vladimir Putin’s corruption and misrule’. Yet who if not the Russian people themselves are more culpable for the rise of Putin? The unpalatable fact that both he and his assault on Ukraine still enjoy such considerable popular domestic support cannot be put down merely to his iron grip on the levers of coercion and propaganda. For most of the last century the Russian people have allowed themselves to be misruled and oppressed by a succession of malevolent tyrants and despots. There comes a point when the people of a country have to take responsibility for their leaders. There are clearly many thousands of brave Russian dissenters and opponents of Putin’s regime, but not nearly enough. Meanwhile, the evidence suggests that the majority of ordinary Russians aren’t being frightened out of rising up against the regime, it’s just that they can see no good reason to do so, or else are turning a blind eye to its atrocities. This arguably makes them complicit.

Nigel Henson

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

Tanks for the offer

Sir: I can attest to the value that was available in the second-hand Soviet tank market in the early years after the fall of communism (‘Roll model’, 28 May). In 1990 I found myself drinking in a bar in the capital of an ex-Warsaw pact country with its new democratically elected defence minister. He bemoaned the fact that so much of his scant budget was being spent on maintaining tanks that were no longer needed. I told him that I was sure that collectors in western Europe and the US would love to buy them. He warmed to the idea and offered me the first sale for £200. As the evening wore on, the price fell to £37.50