Brig. Gen. Peter Zwack, a retired Army officer who was the American military attaché in Moscow at the time of the visit, said Mr. Flynn was not blind to the pitfalls of forging closer ties to Russia. He saw areas of mutual interest, as did many others in the United States at the time, but was always firm in advancing the American position in areas where there was disagreement, General Zwack said.
“There was nothing kumbaya about these talks at all,” he said. “It was a question of finding common ground on this big, complex, fractious and increasingly dangerous planet.”
Others, though, were more skeptical of Mr. Flynn’s efforts. David Rubincam, who was the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s top agent in Moscow between 2011 and 2012, said it was clear the Russians had little interest in greater cooperation.
“The hard stuff was hard but they made the simple stuff hard. There was always a concern: Did they have a secondary agenda? We had to be cautious on sharing information.” Mr. Rubincam said. After Mr. Putin was re-elected in March 2012, “the atmosphere became increasingly toxic.”
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