In preparation for a visit by Nato bigwigs in 2012, Russian soldiers had repainted the entire interior of their national missile defence radar command post. This meant that, after two hours of presentations, the guests were left fume-groggy and they felt relieved to emerge into the sunlight.
Rear-Admiral John Gower found it incongruous that he had been invited to the invitation-only conference in the first place. Having recently been in charge of the British nuclear deterrent, he assumed he would be banned for life from ever visiting Russia, let alone its command posts. But once he accepted the invitation he made the most of it and, bent on mischief, he collared the Russian general in charge of the command centre and thanked him for the