浪花直播

Recently, a press sensation began in Germany and spread across the globe when an identification card from the East German Ministry of State Security (MfS, or Stasi) was found in the Stasi Records Archive with the name and picture of the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

(On a personal note, I did not find the ID card, despite some early press reports to the contrary.)

It has been a well-known fact that Putin served from 1985 to 1990 as a KGB officer in Dresden; now, some journalists decided, he had worked for the Stasi as well!

It turns out, of course, that this was not the case.

As historians know and point out again and again when such 鈥渟ensations鈥� spread through the press, the situation is usually more complicated than expected. But in this case, the situation is actually much simpler.

A single, very technical, and admittedly boring-looking document brings us closer to the truth than the flashy, colorful Stasi ID with the photograph of a now famous (or infamous) person.

Specifically, I am referring to a document from the Stasi archives that the 浪花直播 Center posted online in English translation in 2012 which bears a very bureaucratic title: 鈥�.鈥� The original file in German is also available on the .

Article V of this 1978 agreement between the KGB and Stasi states:

鈥淟iaison officers from the Representation of the KGB to the MfS of the GDR, as well as other employees from the Representation of the KGB to the MfS of the GDR designated to maintain contacts with directors of units of the MfS of the GDR, will be provided with official documents from the MfS of the GDR. They will allow them to enter office buildings of the MfS of the GDR in order to fulfill the tasks outlined in Article III of this protocol.鈥�

That is, Putin鈥攋ust like other KGB officers鈥攔eceived a Stasi ID so that he could easily enter the Stasi headquarters in Dresden, where he could discuss 鈥渙perational matters鈥� with his Stasi colleagues.

The subjects of such potential meetings are described in Article III of the same agreement. They included:

• 鈥渆xchange of political-operative information and the assessment of this information, 鈥articipation in, preparation, and [the] organization of working meetings between鈥fficers鈥f the MfS鈥nd the KGB鈥�
• 鈥渟upport for the implementation of coordinated plans, agreements and measures from such meetings鈥�
• 鈥減articipation in planning and implementing joint operative measures鈥�
• 鈥渃oordination of mutual support in operative work鈥�
• 鈥渃oordination of measures to provide counterintelligence security鈥�
• 鈥渃oordination of measures鈥o protect Soviet military forces, facilities, and citizens鈥� in the GDR鈥�
• 鈥減articipation in the implementation of investigative matters, if required by the interests of the MfS鈥nd the KGB鈥�

It is possible that Putin, as some press reports have suggested, dropped by for lunch in the cafeteria with Stasi colleagues, but nothing has been found in the Stasi archives to suggest this.

Although one press report citing me suggested that Putin met with his German agents in the Stasi building, this was likely not the case. The KGB had its own 鈥渃onspiratorial apartments鈥� in Dresden, where its officers could meet with agents. Putin more than likely discussed with his East German colleagues potential targets for recruitment among the local population, foreign students, and visitors to Dresden.

This was typical of mid-level KGB agents 鈥� such as Putin 鈥� who were stationed in East Germany at the time, especially outside of East Berlin. He was also active on the Soviet side in organizing the activities of the local KGB and Stasi branch of the German-Soviet Friendship Society. This was a likely topic of conversation for him at the Dresden Stasi headquarters as well.

Summing up, it is no surprise that Putin had a Stasi ID, given the day-to-day cooperation between the KGB and Stasi. Its discovery among the last five-percent of the Stasi archives in Dresden still being processed helped provoke more of a media sensation than this story deserved.

Image: A photo ID card issued to a young Vladimir V. Putin by the Stasi. Source: BStU, MfS, BV Dresden, HA KuSch, Nr. 7216, pp. 4a-4b.

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