Vladimir Putin accused of being a 'philanderer and wifebeater' while in KGB by German intelligence files

Claims: Putin's alleged murky past was discovered by acknowledged BND expert Erich Schmidt-Eenboom, author of numerous books and papers on the agency.

Vladimir Putin has been accused of being a wife-beater and philanderer by German spies.

The Russian prime minister allegedly had several affairs while he was himself a spy in Dresden in the late Eighties.

Files from West German spy agency BND published in the German media claim an interpreter agent befriended Putin’s wife Lyudmila, now 53, who poured her heart out about her marriage.

She allegedly told the agent that her husband used ‘domestic violence and [had] numerous sexual affairs’.

Putin, 59, a former Russian President who is expected to return to power next year, headed Soviet intelligence operations in the East German city from 1985 to 1990.

The files were discovered by BND expert Erich Schmidt-Eenboom, author of several books and papers on the spy agency.

Bild, Germany’s biggest paper, said: ‘This report gives added nourishment to the rumour that [Putin] left in his black Volga limousine in the spring of 1990 allegedly leaving an illegitimate baby behind.’



Mrs Putin once damned her husband with faint praise by confiding to a friend: ‘At least he doesn’t beat me.’ And Putin has been quoted in the past as telling a friend: ‘Anyone who can spend three weeks with Lyudmila deserves a monument.’

Putin’s chief spokesman yesterday said he had ‘no comment’ on the reports.

Meeting the Prime Minister: Vladamir Putin speaks with Elena Nikoleyeva, whose child - born two days ago - is Russia's symbolic seven billionth baby Holding the baby: Putin is accused of being a wifebeater who enjoyed a number of illicit liaisons behind the back of his wife Ludmilla

Putin's alleged murky past was discovered by acknowledged BND expert Erich Schmidt-Eenboom, author of numerous books and papers on the agency.



He was researching the intelligence coup of placing an agent inside KGB headquarters for his doctorate when he came across the information about Putin's extramarital affairs.



A senior intelligence expert in Germany said; 'He is on the money on this. And I personally have it on authority from two previous presidents of the BND that Putin was a sexual player during his time in Dresden.'

The interpreter agent, a Baltic Russian with German roots identified only as Lenchen Sch., became a pal of Mrs. Putin and visited her at the flat at 101 Raderbergerstrasse she shared with her husband in the city.

German intelligence files claim Putin enjoyed secret liaisons behind the back of wife Ludmilla, 53

The paper said Lenchen - codenamed 'Balcony' because of her large breasts - became a shoulder to cry on for Ludmilla as she poured her heart out about her then 33-year-old husband's alleged infidelities and abuse.



The Berliner Zeitung in Germany said Putin is alleged by Ludmilla to have used 'domestic violence and to have had numerous sexual affairs.'



It also said this information was passed on to Germany's Office for the Protection of the Constitution and to NATO allies.

Bild, Germany's biggest paper, said; 'This report gives added nourishment to the rumour that the Lt. Col. and vice- KGB boss left in his black Volga limousine in the spring of 1990 allegedly leaving an illegitimate baby behind.'



BND spokesman Dieter Arndt said; 'We do not discuss our methods or our investigations.'



Lenchen made it to the west in 1989, shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall.



She was pregnant with the child of a KGB officer and now lives on a BND pension in southern Germany.