THE inspiration for Jim Sillars’ group is a deceased Edinburgh University academic who was an expert on the Soviet Union’s response to the invasion by Germany during World War Two.

John Erickson was born in the north east of England and educated at Cambridge University, after which he became a successful author and academic.

Following a stint as a research fellow at Oxford University, followed by teaching posts at St Andrews, Manchester and Indiana, he became a Professor of Politics (defence studies) at Edinburgh University between 1969 and 1988.

He had a vast knowledge of the Cold War and spoke Russian, but his most highly-regarded works – The Road to Stalingrad and The Road to Berlin - focused on the military battles between Stalin and Hitler.

However, he is most famous for leading ‘The Edinburgh Conversations’, which were a series of meetings in Edinburgh and Moscow between prominent political and military figures in the West and the Soviet Union. The secret talks took place between 1983 and 1989 at a time when the UK had formally cut diplomatic ties, and were a forum for US and Soviet admirals and generals to meet in private.

Sillars, who helped set up ‘Edinburgh-Russian Conversations’ last year, said of the Erickson talks, said:

“It was a forum in which senior people from the United States, United Kingdom and the USSR, and Scottish and other politicians outside the governmental circles, could meet in a private forum and maintain contact and a dialogue. All sides participated, and found it beneficial.

“Maintaining dialogue, however modest, at political, trade union, and human level did some good in that it allowed people to talk to others, and ensured that relations were not severed completely.”

He added: “When there is a break down in relations between governments, the one avenue for maintaining contact, which may lead to the easing of tensions in future, is people to people dialogue – that is meetings between people outside of the governmental circles, by discussions based upon candour and mutual respect. That is the purpose of Edinburgh-Russia Conversations.”