I am sorry to hear about Miriam Elder's experience at the dry cleaners, in which she lost her receipt and so had an hour of her time "stolen" in providing the necessary personal details to retrieve her woollies (Red-tape Russia, G2, 24 April). But I am also amazed that this anecdote can be passed off as any sort of insight into the state of Russia today.
By all means, the Russian government understands there is work to do in cutting red tape: it is a high priority and we have seen substantial progress in recent years, as foreign businessmen operating here testify. Moreover, other countries, the UK included, have room for improvement on this front too.
Let me remind British readers of the thousands of hours that are "stolen" from Russian citizens when they complete the UK's visa application forms, which are a whopping 10 pages. The time, money, effort and inconvenience that Russians face in obtaining UK visas put Ms Elder's ordeal into perspective.
Dmitry Peskov
Spokesman for Vladimir Putin