Up yours, Amerikanskiy

I was reading the dead tree version of The Finacial Times when I came across this. When we sanction rendition to commit torture, incarcerate others without charge or cause, and look the other way when our people commit abuses, you can't go lecturing the Russians about theirs.

From Mr Dmitry Peskov.

Sir, In your editorial "The dangers of crying 'Comrade Wolf" (May 11), you write that President Vladimir Putin "worryingly" used his annual address to the Federal Assembly to jab back at Dick Cheney's hawkish remarks in a way that bodes ill for co-operative results at the Group of Eight summit in St Petersburg in July. Gone, you say, is the language of partnership.

You claim that Mr Putin's "hawkish foreign policy rhetoric" will make compromises with the US less likely.

In fact, the President's remarks were an extremely restrained retort to a speech by Mr Cheney that was described by many commentators as the most ferocious and unreasonable attack on Russia since the cold war. It should surely be welcomed that the Russian president did not rise to the bait and trigger a spiral of pointless mutual recriminations.

You rightly state that on the major issues of the day Russia and the US are not diametrically opposed. Let us build on the consensus that exists, and aim for a successful G8 summit in July.

Dmitry Peskov,
Deputy Spokesman to the President
of the Russian Federation,
Kremlin, Moscow [my em]