Appeasing Putin

Sir, - "In Putin we have a leader who looks like he'll be around for the foreseeable future

Sir, - "In Putin we have a leader who looks like he'll be around for the foreseeable future. We don't want to take any measures that would force him to respond in any way that would affect relations to please the public mood," a EU diplomat said (The Irish Times, January 22nd).

Would "appeasement" be a misconstruction? - Yours, etc.,

Damien Flinter, Aillebrack, Ballyconneely, Connemara.