In “Just look at the map to see Moscow’s point of view” (Letters, March 4) Robert Skidelsky asserts that had the west given assurances to Russia that there would be no forward deployment of Nato forces, then Vladimir Putin would not have needed Ukraine and Belarus to be buffers between Russia and Nato’s “military alliance”. But Nato has never been a “war” alliance; it has always been a “defence” alliance, with its member nations acting “collectively” to defend against attacks on any one of its members. Therefore it is disingenuous of Skidelsky to accuse Martin Wolf of ignoring all sense of Russian history in his column “Putin’s war against liberal democracy” (Opinion, March 2).
Ali M El-Agraa
Emeritus Professor of International Economic Integration
Fukuoka University, Japan
Letter: Why Nato assurances on troops is missing the point
Pinoy Variant