IN THE “OTSTOYNIK” (CONTINUED)

There are many rumors about Putin’s activities in the GDR. Obviously, both Russian and German mass media became interested in these activities only after VVP became president of the Russian federation. I will enumerate here the principal rumors, pointing out that KGB officials of that time do not confirm these rumors. Particularly the KGB chairman under Gorbachev V. Kryuchkov did not confirm one of them.

So, here are the rumors. Unconfirmed. Supposedly the group Putin was part of, was trying to obtain western technologies. Supposedly, through foreign specialists who were visiting Dresden’s Robotron factory (it was producing computers for all socialist countries) and also through western specialists who were visiting Dresden’s university. Supposedly, the specialists and businessmen were lodged in the Bellevue hotel where they were attended by prostitutes recruited by Stasi. It is unclear what did the soviet agents do in this case? Supervised the prostitutes recruited by Stasi? It is not the most worthy activity for a future president. The Moskovski Komsomoletz newspaper from 18. 08. 1999 has advanced the version that Putin was supervising the behavior of soviet students in the GDR. The German Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper was then affirming that Putin was controlling the secretary of Dresden’s department of GDR’s Socialist United Party Hans Modrov and was also tracking drown anticommunist protest actions in the GDR. Although Rundschau situates Putin’s stay in the GDR in 1980.

The Versia newspaper on 01.18-21.2000 wrote that from Dresden Putin was sent for some time to the city of Leipzig, where he supposedly directed the House of soviet-German friendship (according to other sources: the Soviet Army Club). However the Germans correctly point out that the House of soviet science and culture was not in Leipzig but Berlin. So this is a hoax. Nevertheless, some Russian mass media were so carried away that they affirmed that supposedly from Leipzig Putin controlled the whole net of soviet special services in West Germany. Well, naturally the media want the future president to have done something heroic in the past. The rumors category exaggerating lieutenant colonel Putin’s service in Germany also contains Putin’s supposed participation in the operation “Beam”. The operation consisted of recruiting leading functionaries of the ruling Socialist United Party of Germany and GDR functionaries in the expectation of GDR’s surrender to the West organized by Gorbachev. Beside this, during the operation it was supposedly planned to guarantee the safety of the soviet secret services and local security staff.

Putin’s leadership in the “Beam” operation was not confirmed by KGB’s leader at that time Vladimir Kryuchkov.

According to German newspapers Putin was not sticking out among the other soviet officers. In his free time he studied German literature, he was especially interested in Goethe and Shiller. In Germany he joined the fishermen’s club where he surprised even the Germans with his pedantry. When Putin’s bosses were arriving in Dresden he was taking them for a beer and local sightseeing. German sources deny that Putin was permanently stationed in Leipzig and affirm that his permanent workplace was still Dresden. And the fact that some servile media want to see Putin in Leipzig during that period is easily explained: in 1989 Leipzig was visited by Mikhail Gorbachev after what the GDR started its surrender to the West. Some Putin’s fans would like to see him actively participating in this activity.

There is a stable opinion in Germany and in Russia among professionals of journalistic investigations that Putin has not done any spying activity as such, meaning illegal work, but has directed the human resources and economic part in general.

In 1987 in the summer Putin left Dresden for Leningrad because he was going to receive a new apartment, since the house, in which he lived was being resettled.

In the beginning of 1990 Putin was called back from his foreign service. Yuri Shutov, Sobchak’s former assistant who has been detained for several years now affirms that Putin was returned to Leningrad because “he was noted in an unsanctioned contact with a representative of the enemy’s special services net”. However Shutov does not provide evidence. More convincing is the version of KGB’s former head Vladimir Kryuchkov that “Putin was directed to work in the GDR for a planned five years and after the end of this term he went back because he did not prove his worth in anyway in order to stay for executing additional projects. ” (Moskovskie Novosti 2000 issue 3). Kryuchkov’s version about the mediocrity of Putin’s work in Germany was confirmed by Markus Wolf, Stasi's former head. Putin leaves the KGB in 1991.