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But Jehmlich was far from aware of all the operations of his KGB ‘friends’, who frequently went behind the backs of their Stasi comrades when recruiting agents, including in the Stasi itself. Jehmlich, for instance, claimed he’d never heard that Putin used a cover name for sensitive operations. But many years later, Putin told students he’d adopted ‘several technical pseudonyms’ for foreign-intelligence operations at that time.[18] One associate from those days said Putin had called himself ‘Platov’, the cover name he’d first been given in the KGB training academy.[19] Another name he reportedly used was ‘Adamov’, which he’d taken in his post as head of the House of Soviet–German Friendship in the neighbouring city of Leipzig.[20]

One of the Stasi operatives Putin worked closely with was a short, round-faced German, Matthias Warnig, who was later to become an integral part of the Putin regime. Warnig was part of a KGB cell organised by Putin in Dresden ‘under the guise of a business consultancy’, one former Stasi officer recruited by Putin later said.[21] In those days, Warnig was a hotshot, said to have recruited at least twenty agents in the 1980s to steal Western military rocket and aircraft technology.[22] He’d risen fast through the ranks since his recruitment in 1974, becoming deputy head of the Stasi’s information and technology unit by 1989.[23]

Putin mostly liked to hang out in a small, lowlit bar in the historic centre of Dresden called Am Tor, a few tram stops into the valley from his KGB base, where he’d meet some of his agents, according to one person who worked with him then.[24] One of the main hunting grounds for operations was the Bellevue Hotel on the banks of the Elbe. As the only hotel in the city open to foreigners, it was an important hive for recruiting visiting Western scientists and businessmen. The hotel was owned by the Stasi’s department of tourism, and its palatial restaurants, cosy bars and elegant bedrooms were fitted out with hidden cameras and bugs. Visiting businessmen were honey-trapped with prostitutes, filmed in their rooms and then blackmailed into working for the East.[25] ‘Of course, it was clear to me we used female agents for these purposes. Every security service does this. Sometimes women can achieve far more than men,’ said Jehmlich with a laugh.[26]