LETTER: United by force

From Mr Anthony King Sir: Howard Temperley's attempt to equate Boris Yeltsin with Abraham Lincoln (Letters, 11 January) falls down on the fact that the Russian Federation is not a freely entered into union as was the United States.

Chechens are a conquered people and were never asked if they wanted to be part of the Russian state. "One nation under God" could never apply to the patchwork of nations that 19th-century Russians subdued by force of arms.

Yours faithfully, ANTHONY KING London, E16

11 January