RUSSIA appears to be causing all kinds of problems in the East once again.

Over the last five or more years they have seen several strict and dogmatic laws brought in that severely limit the freedom of their own people, and in recent months they’ve become a little too involved in the politics of Ukraine.

What worries me – and this should worry everyone in the world – is whether our Government can put any real pressure on Russia over Ukraine and the recent attack on a passenger plane. The problem we have is our reliance on Russian and Ukrainian gas.

This is yet again another reason we need self-reliant energy production.

An opportunity to do this already exists. Southampton has great potential, with our geothermal capacity, it has potential with the amount of public and business roof space for solar power (solar is due to become cheaper once again due to developments in panel production).

This city needs to seize the bull by the horns and take this opportunity. We don’t need to be restricted to Russian/Ukrainian gas for our energy needs.

DJ COOK, Sholing, Southampton.