Letter: Cold War rages on

It almost beggars belief that a Russian is given a visa at all in our current circumstances; that she should be employed by an MP for a naval base constituency, Mike Hancock, as a "researcher" in the House of Commons makes one utterly despair (your report, 6 December). He of all people should be well aware that for the Kremlin the Cold War is not over.

He has the nerve to demand that the security services "prove their point". No, in a case like this it is he who should prove her innocence; and even if she is, her employment should cease forthwith. Can one imagine an MP in the Duma for Kaliningrad, Sevastopol or Vladivostock employing a Briton in such a position?

His Portsmouth Lib Dem party should deselect him.

John Birkett

Horseleys Park

St Andrews