Letter: Foreign Office blunders

NOBODY should blame Robin Cook for his real or alleged blunders in Israel. Ministers act mostly on the advice of their officials.

In 1991, John Major, during a visit to the USSR, was not allowed by the Foreign Office to meet the lader of the opposition, Boris Yeltsin, who a few months later was elected president. It was a monumental blunder by the FCO "advisers".

OLEG GORDIEVSKY

London WC2