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Vladimir Putin was regularly violent to his ex-wife Lyudmila during their marriage, a German documentary on the Russian leader has claimed.

Putin the Man, made by ZDF television and shown this week, claimed to have been given access to the unseen files of an unidentified Western intelligence agency. They included details of Mr Putin’s time as a young KGB officer stationed in Dresden in the Eighties, as well as his rise to power in Russia.

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A secretary inside the Dresden office code-named “Lehnchen”, who befriended Mrs Putin, told how he used to beat his wife regularly.

Far from his image as a fitness fanatic today, the young Mr Putin was overweight and a heavy drinker, according to the documentary.

“He was depressed, fat, lazy and disillusioned,” Mahsa Gessen, an author and activist told the documentary. The files included the testimony of a woman identified as “Mrs H” who said Mr Putin groped her at a party, and that his colleagues blamed it on alcohol.