Russia

As revelations of the curious deep cover spy ring trickle out, there are plenty of agitated commentators willing to have a go at the Russians, seeing them as up to their old tricks, still a potential enemy. This is arrant nonsense. Russia is not, nor ever has been, our enemy.

Russia as been the ally of Great Britain in every major European war (Napoleon, the Kaiser and Hitler) and if we would not have lost the last one without her, we would certainly have ended up making some sort of peace with the Nazis. The Americans are always credited with coming to our rescue, but the Russian impact on Germany was far greater.

The Cold War was not a stand off between States so much as a clash of ideologies. When communism imploded it was over. Just as the ending of enmity between Protestants and Catholics enabled us to normalise relations with Spain and France, so the end of communism was an opportunity to bring Russia in from the cold much more than we have. It is understandable for suspicion to linger; it took time with Spain and France to let bygones be bygones (even after the mutual sacrifices of WWI there were still those in the War Office and Foreign Office who argued that France, not Germany, was the potential future enemy) and trouble with Argentina over the Falklands can be said to have links back to that country’s majority Spanish heritage.

It is a fact that Russia is a country unlike ours in almost every way whose vision of democracy is quite different to our own, yet we have much in common and admire much in each other. More important our common strategic and economic interests greatly outweigh our differences, upon some of which we will always beg to differ. This is why our foreign policy should be much bolder towards Russia than it is. It is impossible to assure Europe’s security from wild emerging powers without Russia in the fold. As history has already taught us, Russia is more important to Europe, when the chips are down, than the United States.

It is time Britain moved from the  edgy American diplomatic model and offered a more inclusive approach. Suspicions about NATO expansion (Russia has eventually to become a member) and worries over what it calls its ‘near abroad’ would be greatly ease. So would the need for deep cover spy rings.