Letter: The Russian threat - and how to contain it

Sir: I agree entirely with Jonathan Eyal in his article 'Why Nato must embrace the East' (10 June) that Nato's possible enlargement in Eastern Europe poses no threat to Russian territory, in view of the fact that the only border that Russia has with any central European country is a tiny strip bordering on the Baltic Sea.

Russia, however, does pose a threat to central Europe through having turned this strip of land, the Kaliningrad region (part of East Prussia before the Allies gave it to the Soviet Union under an agreement resulting from the Potsdam conference of 1945), into a huge military base.

According to Polish sources, the total strength of Russian military forces here equals that of Poland's: this on land almost 21 times smaller than Poland and a quarter of the size of Lithuania to the north.

Yours faithfully,

ROMAS KINKA

Director

Anglo-Baltic Information Consultancy

London, E9

11 June