Re “Finland’s lesson for Ukraine” (Opinion, Sept. 3): René Nyberg’s article strikes rare notes of clarity at a time of great confusion as to how the West should best respond to Russian aggression in Ukraine. As one of Russia’s eternal neighbors, Finland alone is serene and secure. Why? Because it won Stalin’s respect by its ferocious defense against Soviet invasion in 1940-41, while Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia collapsed and were absorbed into the Soviet bloc.

Finland was strictly neutral, never joined the Warsaw Pact, and was Russia’s largest Western trading partner well into the 1970s. But it quietly reached out to Vice President George H.W. Bush, invited him to Helsinki in 1983, and set up a channel through which the United States was clearly informed of Mikhail Gorbachev’s emergence as a moderate Russian leader. When Mr. Bush met Mr. Gorbachev at Konstantin Chernenko’s funeral in 1985, he immediately sent a message to President Ronald Reagan, saying that the U.S.-Soviet relationship could be fundamentally changed.

We owe a great deal to the Finns for conveying that information to us, and should listen to them today.

Donald P. Gregg, Armonk, N.Y.

The writer was national security adviser to Vice President George H.W. Bush from 1982 to 1988, and U.S. ambassador to South Korea from 1989 to 1993.