When Vladimir Putin was serving as a KGB officer in East Germany, he had the reputation among his fellow Soviet intelligence officers of being especially hostile to Ukrainians, Ukrainian Lt. Gen. Vasyl Bohdan tells Marina Yevtushok of the Apostrophe news agency.
Bohdan, author of a new book on Putin’s responsibility for the Russian Anschluss of Crimea and the war in the Donbas, says he was in the service at that time and heard others say this and other negative things about the future Kremlin leader.
Anti-Ukrainian attitudes were hardly unknown among Russians in the KGB and otherwise 30 and 40 years ago. Many memoirs report similar attitudes among others. Consequently, this account is entirely plausible and perhaps even likely. But it is obviously indirect evidence at best and thus should be treated with caution.
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