Russian strongman Vladimir Putin has been accused of being a wife-beater and a philanderer by German spies when he worked as a KGB agent in Dresden,a leading German paper reported on Thursday. The PM allegedly had a string of flings while he was himself a spy in the German city in the eighties,Germanys biggest paper Bild reported. Files from West German spy agency BND published in the media say an interpreter agent befriended Putins wife Lyudmila,who poured her heart out about her marriage. She allegedly told the agent her husband used domestic violence and (had) numerous sexual affairs. The files were discovered by BND expert Erich Schmidt-Eenboom,author of several books and papers on the spy agency. Bild 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. Lyudmila once damned her husband with faint praise by confiding to a friend: At least he doesnt 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. Putins chief spokesman said he had no comment. The interpreter agent,a Baltic Russian with German roots identified only as Lenchen Sch,became a friend of Lyudmila and visited her at the flat at 101 Raderbergerstrasse that she shared with her husband in the city.
