Dear Sir
President Putin claims that "Britain and France had destroyed any chance for an anti-fascist front with the Munich Agreement"("There was nothing wrong with the Soviet Union's pact with the Nazis,says Putin", Nov.7). He flagrantly falsifies history. Throughout the summer of 1939, months after Munich, Anglo-French negotiators, led by Lord Halifax, the British Foreign Secretary, held intensive discussions with Soviet officials about the possibilities of a mutual defence pact. Neville Chamberlain complained that the Soviets were "the most impossible people to do business with", constantly increasing their demands. Nevertheless, detailed talks about a military alliance began on August 12. Nine days later the Nazi-Soviet Pact was signed. Stalin cynically used the apparent prospect of a Western alliance as a ploy to get Hitler to promise him large territorial gains in Poland and the Baltic states when war broke out.
Yours faithfully
Lord Lexden
London SW1