You find these comments condescending? HA! Russia can't even build a proper road from Moscow to Vladivostok to drive on. Russian fighter jets are crashing into the Mediterranean Sea off the Syrian coast because they don't know how to land on an aircraft carrier. And today, Christmas Day, the sad news of the loss of the Alexandrov Ensemble, nine Russian journalists and a doctor.

If you, Mr. Roskell, find these comments are condescending it is because the Kremlin deserves condescension. And it is unfortunate the Russian people are too weak to stand up for themselves and fight against Putin's kleptocratic regime.