Putin was no more than a KGB ‘errand boy’ who was mainly tasked with trivial paperwork

Russian President Vladimir Putin has always been portrayed to the world as an elite Soviet spy, with the former intelligence officer supposedly carrying out top-secret and dangerous operations.

But in a far cry from the heroic figure he has been painted to be, Putin was no more than a KGB ‘errand boy’ who was mainly tasked with trivial paperwork, a report by Der Spiegel has revealed.

Mystery has shrouded Putin’s 16 years at the spy agency in the 1980s but within Russia, tales have emerged of the despot conducting secret meetings with terrorists from the Red Army Faction in West Germany and single-handedly defending the KGB’s offices from looters.

Yet Putin’s former KGB colleagues have painted a very different picture, with one saying that the now Russian President mainly worked on ‘banal’ administrative tasks.

Indeed, some have suggested that his service with the KGB on the friendly turf of Dresden in East Germany showed he had not been very skilful as an intelligence agent.

Vladimir Putin pictured in his KGB uniform in the 1980s

Horst Jehmlich, a former Stasi officer who worked with Putin in the KGB’s Dresden office, told the German newspaper the despot was nothing more than an ‘errand boy’.

Another former KGB spy, who also worked in the Dresden office, said Putin’s work ‘consisted primarily of endlessly reviewing applications for West German relatives’ visits or searching for potential informants among foreign students at Dresden University’.

And in a further blow to the image that has been built up around Putin’s time as a spy, Putin is rarely mentioned in East German secret police records. 

When Putin is mentioned, it only mentions his birthday or administrative tasks rather than any evidence of his heroism depicted by those closest to him. 

Putin served in the USSR’s spy agency for 16 years, between 1975 and 1991, after graduating from a Moscow KGB school. 

In 2018, German newspaper Bild printed a photograph of Putin’s ID card that he was given by the KGB’s East German partner agency, the Stasi, in 1985 when he was 33.

The ID would have allowed Putin to enter and leave Stasi offices unhindered, meaning he could recruit agents without needing to say he worked for the KGB.

The ID card, which was issued to Major Vladimir Putin, was signed and validated with stamps every three months until the end of 1989. 

In 2018, German newspaper Bild printed a photograph of Putin’s ID card (pictured) that he was given by the KGB’s East German partner agency, the Stasi, in 1985 when he was 33

Putin (pictured with his parents in 1985) was a KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before resigning in 1991 to enter politics

Putin was stationed in East Germany in 1985, working in the city of Dresden until 1990, where he lived with his now-divorced wife Lyudmila Putin (pictured together in Dresden with their daughter Maria)

The document was found in the Dresden Stasi office’s files on ‘cadres and education.’

At the time of the discovery, Konrad Felber, who heads the Dresden branch of the authority overseeing the Stasi archives, told Bild: ‘It was hitherto completely unknown that Putin, who worked until 1990 as a KGB agent in Dresden, also had a Stasi passport because he’s not listed in the file containing service cards issued to Soviet military personnel.’

Putin officially rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before resigning in 1991 to enter politics in Saint Petersburg. 

But even this is disputed, with Oleg Kalugin, a former high-ranking KGB officer, saying in 2015 that the despot had lied and was ‘just a major’ in the spy agency.

The now Russian President was stationed in East Germany in 1985, working in the city of Dresden until 1990, where he lived with his now-divorced wife Lyudmila Putina. Their second child was born there in 1986.

He returned to Leningrad in 1990 and started work for the city’s reformist mayor. Putin resigned from the KGB a year later, on the second day of the abortive coup attempt against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, which was backed by the KGB.  

Putin has previously credited his past in the KGB for preparing him for the presidency.