Europe is on the brink of war. Everything depends on one man: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (69). But how did a former KGB agent become such a powerful politician? Nobody can answer that better than British journalist Catherine Belton. Your award-winning book about the rise of Vladimir Putin is published today in German.
Who is Vladimir Putin?
Catherine Belton: A complex person with many facets. He’s a bit lazy, likes to get up late, likes women – and the perks of his job. On the other hand, he is easily irritated and harbors a heartfelt resentment over Russia’s decline in importance after the fall of the Soviet Union. All of this shapes his actions.
Putin’s first post as a KGB agent was Dresden in what was then East Germany. What was his job there?
He was the liaison officer between the KGB and the Stasi and maintained contact with high-ranking party and secret service officials in the GDR. There is a Stasi defector who says Putin was involved in important operations against the West.
You even write in your book that Putin maintained contact with the left-wing extremist German terrorist organization RAF.
I met a former companion who described how members of the RAF traveled to Dresden to meet with Putin and his KGB colleagues. The terrorists didn’t get any direct orders from them, but they certainly did give them “recommendations” for possible targets – and help with acquiring weapons.
What was the main task of the KGB in the late 1980s?
procurement of foreign exchange. As part of the policy of opening up, known as perestroika, the KGB began to set up a huge network of front companies in the West in the 1980s. Dresden was also a hub for this system. It was no coincidence that the KGB’s foreign department played a crucial role in setting up this system: its agents lived in the West and saw that the planned economy was not able to keep up with the capitalist market economy.
The Putin connoisseur
Catherine Belton was Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times from 2007 to 2013. Today she works as an investigative journalist for the Reuters news agency in London. Her book «Putins Netz», published in English in 2020, was named Book of the Year by «The Economist», among others.
Catherine Belton was Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times from 2007 to 2013. Today she works as an investigative journalist for the Reuters news agency in London. Her book «Putins Netz», published in English in 2020, was named Book of the Year by «The Economist», among others.
How did the company network work?
The front companies smuggled cheap raw materials such as oil, gas or fertilizer from the Soviet Union to the West in order to sell them there at world market prices. The profits were gigantic. In return, the Soviet Union illegally imported high-tech goods from the West that were subject to trade embargoes – or funded secret service operations to destabilize the West via black accounts.
The Soviet Union collapsed anyway.
Exactly, but the KGB’s corporate networks remained, only their purpose changed. KGB men were now using it to siphon off the Communist Party’s billion-dollar fortune, almost all of which was disappearing abroad.
What role does Switzerland play in this?
A high-ranking former KGB member once told me: Switzerland is like a restaurant between Chinatown and Little Italy, where mafia bosses can meet comfortably. Bankers told me how KGB agents used to bring suitcases of cash into Switzerland.
But the KGB rope team also sought political power. In Saint Petersburg, Putin was appointed deputy mayor in 1992. What was his job?
He tried to control the city’s cash flows to ensure the survival of himself and his KGB comrades. For example, he issued hundreds of millions of dollars worth of import licenses to his allies for much-needed food in the city — which then never made it to St. Petersburg. Putin also learned very quickly that fighting organized crime, which was dominating large parts of the city at the time, was not worthwhile.
What does that mean?
At that time there were violent struggles over the distribution of the city’s sinecures – including the St. Petersburg port. Putin was threatened and one day even had to take his daughters to safety in Germany. But he resolved the situation by merging with the Tambov gang, the local offshoot of the Russian mafia. Together they then controlled the city’s entire oil trade.
Was violence part of Putin’s tool kit from the start?
There is no evidence that Putin was directly involved in acts of violence. But there were many murders in the city – for which the Tambov gang was partly responsible. Putin was closely connected to her. According to Spanish investigative authorities, there are still contacts with Putin’s environment.
At the end of the 1990s, Putin made it to Moscow. In 1999 he was elected Prime Minister and then in 2000 President. Why him?
Putin was the representative of the KGB who was in the right place at the right time. Then-President Yeltsin and those around him believed they could install a loyal man with liberal positions in Putin who would preserve their legacy. They saw in him what they wanted to see in him. But Putin is a chameleon.
What were his real intentions?
I’m not sure he and the KGB network that planted him in power really had a political plan for what they wanted to do with power other than protect themselves.
How would you describe the West’s reaction to Putin’s rise to power?
As naive. There was, unfortunately, a collective amnesia of the nature of the KGB. It was believed that Russia had no alternative to integration into the Western system. And at the same time received the stolen money from the oligarchs with open arms. With that, we opened the door to Putin’s influence, because whoever makes money in Russia today has to obey Putin’s orders.
The Kremlin is now actively trying to subvert democracies in Europe and the US. How so?
Putin and his KGB entourage are trying to weaken the West and restore Russia’s greatness. But not in economic competition, they have little idea about that. But they know a lot about covert operations, disinformation and the undermining of democracies. Or in the craft of extortionate diplomacy, as they are currently showing in the Ukraine crisis.
Expert on Ukraine crisis: Are we facing a war?(05:44)
Is Putin ready to start a war?
He would be stupid if he did. I think he knows the effect of dead soldiers on public opinion in Russia. But the ex-KGB people are masters of manipulation. They could use a staged incident in Ukraine to suggest to their own population that it is in fact the West that is attacking Russia.
Why did Putin allow this conflict situation to arise?
To me it smells like desperation. These guys have been in power for 20 years. Putin is slowly running out of ideas. He needs a reason to justify his regime. And the confrontation with the West is one.
What can the West do to prevent this?
appear united. So far it’s not working too bad. But does it stay that way?
Why not?
Germany gets 55 percent of its gas from Russia. The Germans are still holding out the prospect of shutting down the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if Russia invades. But what if energy prices keep rising? And if the US, in the event of an invasion, leaves Russia dependent on the international payment system, Putin might want to switch to the euro. Will the EU then find a unified policy? The big tests are still ahead of us.
The book
Catherine Belton, “Putin’s Net – How the KGB Retook Russia and Then Set their Eyes on the West,” Harper Collins.
Catherine Belton, “Putin’s Net – How the KGB Retook Russia and Then Set their Eyes on the West,” Harper Collins.