He’s got (Russian) rhythm

Lara Cook in her review of William Zimmerman’s Ruling Russia: Authoritarianism from the Revolution to Putin (Books, 26 June) is amused by his suggestion that Stalin’s loyal apparatchik Vyacheslav Molotov could have learned to dance the tango.

If so he may well have cut a rug, as until recently he was generally believed to be related to the composer Aleksandr Scriabin and so would have had rhythm in his knees.

R. E. Rawles
Honorary research fellow in psychology
University College London