MY MEETING WITH PUTIN

This story is a work of historical and political fiction, set in the present day. It is built around an ordinary citizen’s obsession with an idea for ending the war in Ukraine. He has strongly doubted that President Trump’s so-called summit with President Putin in Anchorage, Alaska would produce anything other than red carpet photo ops. And that was indeed the case. The protagonist, Lyle Greenfield, imagines what he would say if given the opportunity to meet with Putin to share his idea. And that idea: to create a new, neutral country, not unlike Switzerland, from the embattled territories of Ukraine. A country where two cultures and languages are taught, where borders are opened, and coexistence between East and West is restored. When Greenfield learns that his niece Emily had attended university in New York City with the Russian foreign minister’s daughter Natalya, and that the two women remain close friends to this day, a connection is made that leads to the meeting he has dreamed of. He must fly to Nome, Alaska where a brief encounter is arranged for the day following Trump’s meeting in Anchorage. In a gripping early morning scene beside the Nome airport runway, the idea is conveyed to a skeptical Putin, his press secretary and foreign minister by his side. The meeting ends with no more than handshakes before Putin’s jet flies away and back to Moscow. Days pass with no word from anyone about the proposal. He wonders, was that the end of it? Then hears from his niece. There is in fact interest. But there would be no contact with the Kremlin. First, the proposal must be more fully developed by another individual outside of the government, a Russian professor of political science and Slavic culture at the University of Zurich. It is she who will work with the American to create a formal document outlining the peace plan. A plan that Putin insists must come with no American political involvement. It could not appear that he had acquiesced to another country’s proposal. He alone must be the one who has proposed this solution. Furthermore, the Russian president insists the plan must first be agreed to in principle by NATO, and by President Zelenskyy. When the FBI learns that a citizen may have had an unauthorized meeting with Putin an investigation begins that comes to the attention of President Trump, who demands that a subpoena be issued and this guy brought in for questioning. But before a subpoena is issued, Greenfield leaves the country and flies to Zurich to work with the professor and stay out of reach of the authorities. Next a meeting with the secretary general of NATO, Mark Rutte, is arranged in Brussels. With serious doubts about Putin’s motives Rutte reluctantly agrees to take the peace proposal forward to President Zelenskyy. Will the Ukrainian president agree? Back home, Greenfield’s wife Mary is forced to deal with unannounced visits from the FBI and from the press, all eager to know about this unauthorized meeting. With no notice to family or friends she flies to Paris to join her husband so this personal peace mission can continue in secrecy. Arrangements are made to bring President Zelenskyy to Paris. It is a dramatic encounter in which the Ukrainian president is asked to agree to the removal of parts of his country in the name of bringing peace to the region. The story is told by the protagonist, who places on full display his vulnerability, determination, naïveté, and sense of humor. It poses the greater question: Why, in this age, must countries continue to wage war rather than explore solutions to problems, no matter their complexity? Many real persons, events and places form the foundation of this timely thriller. Their interactions, with each other and with fictitious persons, are all imagined by the author. The reader may be left in the end to wonder, Well, why not? Read more