VLADIMIR PUTIN may well be directly involved in the horrible nerve agent attack in Salisbury, but I am not convinced.

Putin is a dictatorial bully, but no fool and it seems illogical that he would have authorised such an attack just before the World Cup, which will be the biggest showpiece event in Russian post-Cold War history.

However, there are other possible explanations for this attack. One possibility is that it was carried out by elements within the Russian security apparatus without authority from the Kremlin.

After all, the victim Sergei Skripal had betrayed his country by becoming a double agent, therefore some of his former handlers may have sought vengeance.

In addition, we should not dismiss other possibilities from within Russia, not least criminals who may well have a motive as well as access to nerve agents, given that an estimated 40,000 tonnes of chemical weapons were left over from the Soviet era.

Finally, there are other countries and organisations who may well have a political and economic motive in helping to create a new Cold War.

These include anti-Russian states such as the Ukraine and rogue elements within the military/industrial complex in Western Europe and the USA.

Would the Government lie to us over such matters? Of course they would.

We were lied to over weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Are the Government lying? Quite possibly, I don’t know.

John Gilmore, Bishop Auckland