Paul Gismondi (Letters, 14 June) reflects the half-truths of the Putin propaganda machine which has replaced a free press in Russia. The inexperienced interim Government in Kiev and the new president of Ukraine have been doing their best to cope with what all well- informed journalists agree is a deliberate attempt to destabilise eastern Ukraine where Russian and Ukrainian-speaking citizens have always lived in peace. No government can be expected to sit by while agents of another state masquerade as protesting citizens and take control of the police and local administration. The fact that Paul Gismondi accuses the whole of Western media of being one-sided shows how little he appreciates the freedom of the Western press, the integrity of Western journalists and the vast resources spent by