The Hard Years of Putin's Spy in East Germany

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he gained 12kg during his time working for the KGB in East Germany thanks to his habit of drinking beer at the end of the day.

Russian President Vladimir Putin worked for the Soviet intelligence agency KGB from 1975 to 1991. However, he is not someone who often brags about his intelligence career, especially during his years at the KGB base in Dresden (1985-1989), German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

There is almost no information about the activities that Mr. Putin performed or contacted foreign spies here. However, RBTH (a publication of the Rossiyskaya Gazeta media outlet under the Russian Government) recently revealed some interesting details about the life of the Russian leader during his years as a young intelligence officer.

President Putin during his working days in East Germany.

At the time he was assigned to East Germany by his superiors, Mr. Putin was still quite young (33 years old). At that time, he was married to his ex-wife Lyudmila and they had their first daughter Maria together.

After completing training at the Foreign Intelligence Academy in Moscow, he was fluent in German and faced with two choices.

He could wait a few more years for an assignment in West Germany or he could choose to work in East Germany immediately. He decided to take the second path.

In his book First Person, President Putin recounted that the KGB at that time was interested in collecting all information related to the strategic opponent, NATO.

He said his job was “quite interesting” and listed his duties as: Providing information, gathering news and transmitting data to Moscow.

The Russian leader does not talk much about his young intelligence years.

In an interview with state-run Rossiya24 television in 2017, President Putin said that all of his work abroad was related to illegal intelligence. As a KGB agent, he often contacted illegal citizens and helped them stay in touch with “the center.”

The Russian president fondly recalled his years in Germany and said he had not forgotten his old friends there. In 2017, he personally visited and congratulated his former KGB “boss” Lazar Moiseev on his 90th birthday.

Like to drink German beer

Speaking in an interview, Mr Putin's ex-wife - Ms Lyudmila said that their family was very impressed with the cleanliness and orderliness of the German people.

As for Putin, he admitted that he had gained 12 kg, all thanks to his habit of drinking German beer at the end of the day as a way to relax during his hard working time for the KGB.

After returning to Russia, he returned to his old weight, which many people jokingly compared to the fact that Russian beer in the 1990s was not as good as German beer.

Russian President and his ex-wife Lyudmila.

According to Lyudmila, the family often dined with Mr Putin’s colleagues and Germans. There were many Stasi agents among them, as the GDR and the Soviet Union were allies. East German secret police officers also lived next door to Mr Putin.

The Russian leader revealed that his family did not enjoy a comfortable life at that time. The most valuable asset they had to save money to buy was a car, which at that time was quite valuable in socialist countries.

Stasi agents appeared to make more money than their KGB colleagues, Lyudmila said in an interview.

But everything began to change in 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell and Germany entered the process of reunification.

On December 5, 1989, Mr. Putin witnessed a crowd of angry people storming the local office of the Ministry of State Security located near the KGB headquarters.

Knowing that his agency was about to be occupied by the people, the spy Putin tried to contact the KGB headquarters in Moscow but no one answered. So he acted on his own decision.

Siegfrid Dannat, one of those present in the crowd, recalled that a Russian officer left the building and approached the closed gate.

The character said that people should stay away from the building because it was Soviet-controlled territory and armed guards would open fire if anyone attempted to enter.

Dannat said that the officer was very polite and spoke good German. His words calmed the crowd (who did not want bloodshed) and they left the KGB headquarters.

No one expected that officer to later become President of Russia.

Just a few days later, he and his colleagues destroyed all documents related to KGB activities in East Germany. The most valuable documents were sent to Moscow, the rest were burned.

“We burned them day and night,” President Putin recalled. “So many documents were burned that the incinerator broke down.”

Soon after, he and his family left Dresden and Putin's spy mission in East Germany ended, along with the end of the KGB presence there.

According to Kienthuc.net.vn