Boris Johnson’s Nazi Olympics gaffe is a step too far

I have visited Russia around 40 times and have good friends and colleagues there. Over the years I’ve met many people from all parts of Russia, and feel I have some understanding of the country. I am increasingly dismayed by the jingoistic responses to the Salisbury attacks from the government and especially from the foreign secretary (World Cup will be like Nazi Olympics, says Johnson, 22 March). Most people in Britain do not seem to understand the historic nervousness of Russians to being encircled and invaded. Russians remember the second world war well, and the millions who died. For Boris Johnson to compare Putin to Hitler is about as foul an insult as anyone could devise. Theresa May’s talk about a new cold war serves no one’s interests apart from her own, and possibly those of MI6 and the armed forces.

Russian oligarchs who are based in London and UK tax havens are the people that the UK should go for. Many are not the cosy families who wish to make their home here, as Theresa May would have it. They are hated in Russia even more than here, and investigating them for money laundering and tax evasion would be far more effective and conducive of building good relations with Russians than is the current focus on Putin.
James Pitt
York

• When Ken Livingstone compared a reporter to a concentration camp guard, it virtually finished his career. When Boris Johnson targets a superpower with the same sort of language, he retains his job. How long before the PM realises that Johnson is somebody who causes far more trouble than he is worth? I suppose it is too much to hope that Boris will wake up to the fact that he is not a reincarnation of Winston Churchill?
Margaret Squires
St Andrews, Fife

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters