President Vladimir Putin’s KGB profile is now being showcased at an exhibit of declassified documents at St. Petersburg’s central state archive.
Putin, who served in the Soviet spy agency between 1975 and 1991, had credited his KGB past for preparing him for the presidency. He assumed the presidency in 2000 after a stint at the helm of the KGB’s successor-agency, the FSB.
“Comrade V.V. Putin constantly improves his ideological and political standards. He’s actively engaged in the party education network. He constantly improves his professional skills,” the profile reads.
Putin’s six-paragraph profile, published by St. Petersburg’s 78 news channel Wednesday, notes his “moral stability” and “the well-deserved authority he enjoys among colleagues.”
Putin was stationed in East Germany in 1985, after finishing his higher education at a Moscow KGB school. Putin worked in Dresden until 1990, rising to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1989, he was awarded a bronze medal for outstanding service to the East German National People’s Army.
