Sir, – I recall being alarmed during the 1956 Suez crisis by the Russian Prime Minister’s threat of nuclear missile attack unless the UK withdrew its forces from Egyptian territory. Subsequently it has been established that, at the time, the Soviet Union did not have the ICBM capability to do so. Furthermore, it is unlikely that the Soviet Politburo would have sanctioned a nuclear strike. Putin appears not to be subject to the checks and balances of a Politburo type organisation. He, and seniors of his administration, have implied that Russia might well resort to the use of nuclear weapons aga…
