German spies: “Vladimir Putin, a wife-beater and philanderer”

German media revealed thar Russian PM, Vladimir Putin has been accused of being a wife-beater and philanderer by German spies.

Vladimir Putin allegedly had several affairs while he was himself a spy in Dresden, former East Germany 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.

Lyudmila allegedly told the agent that her husband used “domestic violence and [had] numerous sexual affairs”.

Vladimir 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.

Lyudmila 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.”

PM Vladimir Putin’s chief spokesman yesterday said he had “no comment” on the reports.

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

Eenboom 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 Lyudmila Putin and visited her at the flat at 101 Raderbergerstrasse she shared with her husband in the city.

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

The Berliner Zeitung in Germany said Vladimir Putin is alleged by Lyudmila 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 [Putin] 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.

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

Vladimir Putin’s office did not respond to requests for comment.