Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite complained on October 18, 2016 that Russian President Putin’s placing of nuclear-capable offensive Iskander (S-400) missiles in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, was intended to threaten European capitals as well as the Baltic region. While Vladimir Putin has moved defensive missile systems around the region, this is the first time he’s put offensive nuclear-capable missiles in the enclave between Poland and Lithuania so close to European nations to the west.

Putin’s timing can’t be ignored. While President-elect Donald Trump is claiming he intends to have a cordial relationship with Putin and that he will be able to reason and negotiate with the Russian president, Putin has ensconced his missiles threatening Europe during the period following Trump’s election when he knows President Obama will do nothing and President-elect Trump lacks the authority to do anything. Will Trump be as successful with Putin as President Reagan was with Putin’s predecessors?

In the thrillers we write, we try to keep pace with current events and season our novels with tensions in the world around us. Those who have read our September 2016 release The Looming Storm will realize the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad sounds familiar. In our latest suspense novel, Federal Agent Eva Montanna is concerned for her seventeen-year-old daughter Kaley who is traveling on a Polish ferry in the Baltic Sea. Eva is shocked when Kaley comes face-to-face with Russian soldiers near Kaliningrad.

Here is a snippet of what we wrote several months ago as we realized Russia’s aggression would keep building: The male TV reporter’s voice wormed its way into Eva’s mind when he said, “Russia’s presence in Kaliningrad increases tensions in the region. Experts suggest today’s ferry seizure is an attempt by Russia’s president, who some say acts like a tsar, to control the Baltic shipping lanes.

We might as well begin writing our next novel about a fictional billionaire U.S. President’s relationship with a Russian leader. What will be the next move on the international chessboard?

Be Blessed, Diane and David Munson

ExFed Authors of High Velocity Suspense