Russian challenge to British views

Julian Glover takes the moral high ground in his article on Russia ( Comment , 14 February): unlike the disgracefully complicit Germans and French, we should keep our distance and hold fast to our values when dealing with these near-barbarian Russians. For the past 20 years I have been bringing ordinary educated Russians to study and observe life in this country for three weeks. They have had much to admire. But they first used to ask: "Why does such a rich country have beggars on its streets?" Then they found in the early years of their freedom that beggars were more evident on their streets too. Later they asked: "Why is it wrong for us to fight Chechens who are kidnapping and terrorising peoples of other republics in our own country, but not wrong for you to bomb civilians in Serbia who have done nothing to harm you?" Then they said: "We like our new leader, Putin, because he is an educated man; he knows Germany well, and speaks fluent German. And of course he tries to learn other languages to understand their cultures. Why do British leaders only know their own language? Why do British people not want to learn about other cultures?" Later they said: "Why do you so admire western democracy if it produces a leader like George W Bush?" Now they say: "We think there should be press freedom. Of course our leaders are sometimes mocked and criticised in our papers. We enjoy satire. But in your papers journalists every day show contempt for the elected government. Why should we like this freedom?" And finally they say: "We have a very bad problem of alcohol in Russia. But we never see on our streets all these young people – all these girls – vomiting in public. Why does your civil society not stop them from destroying themselves?" They are polite; they are proud of Russia but also critical, though not necessarily of what we criticise. Their questions are not easy for me to answer. Karen Hewitt Oxford