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Putin's Stasi identity card discovered in German archives


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Putin's Stasi identity card discovered in German archives

By Thomas Escritt

 

2018-12-11T175215Z_3_LYNXMPEEBA1AB_RTROPTP_4_GERMANY-RUSSIA-PUTIN.JPG

FILE PHOTO: Participants of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) gather near an electronic screen showing Russian President Vladimir Putin, who speaks during a session of the forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, June 2, 2017. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin/File Photo

 

BERLIN (Reuters) - The identity card, issued more than three decades ago by East Germany's Stasi secret police, would be of little interest were it not for the name of the man staring out: Vladimir Putin.

 

The card was issued in 1986 when Putin was a mid-ranking KGB spy stationed in Dresden in communist East Germany, then under Russian occupation. It has lain in archives since at least 1990, when the two Germanys were reunified.

 

Found in archives by U.S. historian Douglas Selvage, the card was trumpeted on Tuesday by Bild newspaper as evidence Russia's now long-serving president was also working for the hated East German security service, wound up in 1990.

 

Bearing the serial number B 217590, the card bears Putin's signature next to the black-and-white photograph of a tie-clad young man.

 

On the reverse side, quarterly stamps show it remained in use to the final quarter of 1989, when spreading protests precipitated East Germany's final collapse.

 

In a statement, the authority in charge of the Stasi archives said it was common for KGB agents stationed in the fraternal socialist German Democratic Republic to be issued passes giving them entry to Stasi offices.

 

"It allowed KGB representatives to access regional offices of the Ministry for State Security (Stasi)," the statement read. "That went also for Vladimir Putin, who then worked in the KGB office in Dresden... There is no evidence he worked for the Stasi."

 

Asked about the report on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters there would be nothing unusual in Putin having such a card.

 

"As is well known at the time when the Soviet Union existed, the KGB and the Stasi were partner intelligence agencies so you probably can't rule out an exchange of such identity cards," he said.

 

Putin worked for the KGB in Dresden from 1985 to 1990.

 

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Putin, who held the rank of major, said he brandished a pistol to stop an angry crowd from ransacking his intelligence agency's offices in Dresden and purloining its files, a tactic that worked.

 

A fluent German speaker, his work there included recruiting informants and saw him promoted twice. Before he left,Putin said he and others burned reams of secret KGB files.

 

Putin went on to head Russia's FSB, the main successor agency to the KGB, before assuming the presidency in 2000.

 

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt and Andrew Osborn; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

 
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-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-12-12
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47 minutes ago, webfact said:

ound in archives by U.S. historian Douglas Selvage, the card was trumpeted on Tuesday by Bild newspaper as evidence Russia's now long-serving president was also working for the hated East German security service, wound up in 1990.

It was in the box next to Merkel's Stasi ID card.

 

So Putin is bad, and Merkel is good, even though we have seen photos of them wearing the same uniform?

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2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

It was in the box next to Merkel's Stasi ID card.

 

So Putin is bad, and Merkel is good, even though we have seen photos of them wearing the same uniform?

I never understood how the German population let it happen for a former Stasi snitch to become the chancellor of the nation. Possible answer:

9615e534-10c8-46f8-98fe-1d4f244b76f8_zps

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11 minutes ago, Lupatria said:

I never understood how the German population let it happen for a former Stasi snitch to become the chancellor of the nation. Possible answer:

possible answer "Germany was and is doing economically quite well with Merkel as chancellor." :smile:

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Quote

webfact said:

ound in archives by U.S. historian Douglas Selvage, the card was trumpeted on Tuesday by Bild newspaper as evidence Russia's now long-serving president was also working for the hated East German security service, wound up in 1990.

"BILD" made no mention that the back of the ID contained the remark "printed in Langley, Virginia." :laugh:

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2 hours ago, Naam said:

possible answer "Germany was and is doing economically quite well with Merkel as chancellor." :smile:

nothing to do with Merkel.  The German economy owes itself to the Chinese lust for German motor cars which goes way back to before the wall came down.  Deals were done with the East Germans because the Chinese were willing to deal with socialists but not with capitalists.  Unless the deal was done through Hong Kong of course.

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4 hours ago, Naam said:

"Germany was and is doing economically quite well with Merkel as chancellor."

That´s correct. But sadly it is only the big enterprises and banks that benefit from Merkel´s policy. The normal people and especially pensioners don´t. Not at all

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2 hours ago, car720 said:

nothing to do with Merkel.  The German economy owes itself to the Chinese lust for German motor cars which goes way back to before the wall came down.  Deals were done with the East Germans because the Chinese were willing to deal with socialists but not with capitalists.  Unless the deal was done through Hong Kong of course.

which German cars were produced in East Germany and exported to China before the wall came down? :cheesy:

 

 

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1 hour ago, pikao said:

That´s correct. But sadly it is only the big enterprises and banks that benefit from Merkel´s policy. The normal people and especially pensioners don´t. Not at all

generally pensioners get what they deserve depending on their contributions to Germany's social insurance system.

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49 minutes ago, Naam said:

generally pensioners get what they deserve depending on their contributions to Germany's social insurance system.

Unfortunately not really. Or they didn´t raise pensions accordingly. On my last visits to Munich, which was and is a rich city, now only affordable for the rich, I´ve seen lots of people searching the waste bins for refundable bottles. All ages, many of them old. A bottle can get you 8-15 Eurocents approx. These people desperately need the little extra. And at the so called "Tafel" (places where they collect left over food from supermarkets etc., to give it for free, originally to the homeless) the number of pensioners attending has risen dramtically over the past years. SIEMENS, BMW, Deutsche Bank etc. make more money every year but that does not come to people accordingly, and an (officially) estimated 25% of the elder population is threatend to suffer from so called "poverty amoung the elderly" in the coming years. Well done politicians, great job. Your buddies will applaud you at the next Bilderberg meeting

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23 minutes ago, Lupatria said:

I hope you don't consider this as the only suitable reason!

i couldn't care less what reasons are suitable or not. i'm a German but lived for the last 44 years 95% of the time abroad. can't even properly keep up with the latest changes of political horsetrading.

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24 minutes ago, German farang said:

Small trucks & transporters: "LO", "W50" & "B1000". In use around the world untill nowadays. Motorbikes & Smallbikes: "MZ" & "Simson". 

and that is the reason why Germany is doing economically ok? :coffee1:

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I remember driving into Eastern Germany in 1991. This was not long after the wall had collapsed.

My old 1986 Mazda stood out from the crowd. All the other cars were Trabants . 

The locals were actually amused when they saw my car and I soon became a tourist attraction, everyone wanted to touch my Mazda. 

 

afafa81466bffa9ca8ec94db324265d1f92cd233

 

 

 

mazda__gtx_323_1_6i_105_hp_few_km_1986_3

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On ‎12‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 7:05 PM, German farang said:

Small trucks & transporters: "LO", "W50" & "B1000". In use around the world untill nowadays. Motorbikes & Smallbikes: "MZ" & "Simson". 

I bought a Bosch car  fuel pump in the 90's ..actually three of them because the first two didn't work !Mercedes quality ? The garage storeman explained they recently  moved production to East Germany and hadn't quite got it right yet .

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