Wines, Michael.
"Putin Once Decorated as a Spy, but Few Agree
on His Deeds." New York Times, 10 Jan. 2000. [http://www.nytimes.com]Click for material on the tit-for-tat expulsion by Russia of nine Polish diplomats on 21 January 2000.
Materials arranged chronologically.
Wines, Michael.
"Putin Once Decorated as a Spy, but Few Agree
on His Deeds." New York Times, 10 Jan. 2000. [http://www.nytimes.com]
There is little to confirm accounts in the German press that Russian "President Vladimir V. Putin was decorated for his work as a K.G.B. agent in East Germany during the 1980's, and was even expelled from West Germany at one point after being identified as a Soviet spy.... Putin, who became Russia's acting president when President Boris N. Yeltsin resigned on Dec. 31, [1999,] entered the K.G.B.'s foreign intelligence arm ... in 1975. He is said to have left the service in 1990 after spending most of his career in Dresden, then an East German city frequented by Western businesspeople."
Hoffman,
David. "Putin Steps Out of the Shadows: Russian's Career Rooted in
KGB." Washington Post, 30 Jan. 2000, A1. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
A review of Vladimir Putin's career shows that he "previously thrived in closed worlds, first as an intelligence agent and later in city government."
Bohlen,
Celestine. "Putin Tells Why He Became a Spy." New York Times,
11 Mar. 2000. [http://www.nytimes.com]
In a lengthy interview published in the 10 March 2000 issue of the daily newspaper Kommersant, Russia's acting president Vladimir V. Putin describes "how, in ninth grade, he was smitten by the romance of working for the secret service. The movie, 'The Sword and the Shield,' depicted the heroic deeds of a Soviet double agent in Nazi Germany." The interview is "one of six installments that will be published in book form next week." See also, David Hoffman, "Putin Discusses His Life as Russian Spy," Washington Post, 11 Mar. 2000, A14.
Hoffman,
David. "Putin Book Details His KGB Past." Washington Post,
14 Mar. 2000, A14. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
Acting Russian President Vladimir V. Putin disclosed in a book-length interview, "In the First Person," published on 13 March 2000 "that his main assignment as a Soviet KGB agent in East Germany during the late 1980s was spying on NATO."
Smith, Michael. "Crime and Instability Ensure Russia Stays Britain's Top Target." Telegraph (London), 16 Mar. 2000. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk]
"While the KGB has changed its name, its fingers still reach into every area of Russian society. The country's Mafia is riddled with Lubyanka-trained hoods who found capitalism provided them with more lucrative ways of employing their skills.... The Soviet Union may have been dangerous, but at least you knew where you were. The new Russia with its political uncertainties, nuclear weaponry and crime is just as dangerous and far less predictable."
Beeston,
Richard. "Putin Applied to Join KGB at 16." Times (London),
17 Mar. 2000. [http://www.the-times.co.uk]
"In a series of wide-ranging interviews, Russia's acting President [Vladimir Putin], 47, who is headed for victory at the polls in eight days' time, has confessed to a turbulent early love affair, a lifelong devotion to the secret police, and a disturbing inclination not to register fear." See also, Times (London), "Putin Unmasked," 17 Mar. 2000.
Warren, Marcus. "Putin's Mask Slips to Show Face of Committed KGB Fan." Telegraph (London), 18 Mar. 2000. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk]
"A book of interviews designed to reassure voters" about Acting Russian President Vladimir Putin "has served only to arouse anxiety about his plans for the country. The enthusiasm with which Mr Putin justifies his old employer, and his silence on its history of repression, have shocked even those who were prepared to forgive him his 15 years in its ranks."
Franchetti,
Mark. "Agent Reveals Young Putin's Spy Disaster." Sunday Times
(London), 19 Mar. 2000. [http://www.the-times.co.uk]
Klaus Zuchold, a Stasi agent recruited by Vladimir Putin, has told The Sunday Times that "he and Putin had met secretly several times between 1985 and 1990, when both were posted in Dresden." Zuchold turned himself in to German intelligence soon after reunification, "supplied the Germans with a detailed description of Putin," and "revealed the names of four former East German policemen who had spied for the KGB for years."
Lloyd,
John. "The Logic of Vladimir Putin." New York Times Magazine,
19 Mar. 2000. [http://www.nytimes.com]
"It is now a conventional trope that Vladimir Putin is a mystery. But why he was promoted to a position where he now stands poised to win the presidency of Russia in next Sunday's elections is not a mystery. He is very good, and particularly so in the areas where a modern politician must be. He is a consummate public performer. From its dark bowels the K.G.B. has produced a star, one who speaks of his former institution with proud dignity."
Hoffman,
David. "Putin Wins Russian Election." Washington Post,
27 Mar. 2000, A1. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
Wines,
Michael. "Putin Narrowly Wins Russian Election in the First Round."
New York Times, 27 Mar. 2000. [http://www.nytimes.com]
Associated Press. "Russia Arrests Alleged Spy." 26 Jun. 2000. [http:// www.nytimes.com]
According to Russian officials on 26 June 2000, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has "detained a Lithuanian man accused of spying for the United States and Lithuania." The domestic security service "said the man confessed that he was an agent of the Lithuanian intelligence service and that he was enlisted last year by the CIA to spy on the FSB's computer and information safety department.... No details were released on the identity of the alleged spy."
Reuters, "Russia Holds Lithuanian for Spying for Washington," 26 Jun. 2000, adds that the FSB statement said that the detained Lithuanian man had confessed that "he was active on a CIA special operation from the beginning of 1999"; the operation "consisted of hacking into FSB computers."
Counterintelligence
News and Developments. "Russians Off
to Prison." Sep. 2000. [http:// www.nacic.gov]
In July 2000, a Russian court found Platon Obukhov, previously a second secretary in the Foreign Ministry's North America Department, guilty of spying for the United Kingdom and sentenced him to 11 years in prison. Also in July 2000, Lt. Col. Sergei Avramenko, previously assigned to a Defense Ministry's scientific research institute, was sentenced to four years hard labor for "photographing top secret documents detailing developments in Russian military aircraft electronics."
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