Putin 'had affairs and beat wife' as KGB boss

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin was described as a "philanderer" and "wifebeater" in German intelligence files, it emerged today.

Germany's BND spy agency compiled reports on Mr Putin when he was the KGB deputy boss in Dresden between 1985 and 1990 using an agent disguised as an interpreter.

According to the newspaper Berliner Zeitung the files say Mr Putin enjoyed a number of illicit liaisons behind the back of his wife Ludmilla, now 53.

Mr Putin's murky past was discovered by 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 information about the alleged extramarital affairs.

A senior intelligence expert in Germany claimed:"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."

The interpreter agent, a Baltic Russian with German roots identified only as Lenchen Sch, befriended Mrs Putin. The paper said Lenchen became a shoulder to cry on as Mrs Putin talked about her then 33-year-old husband's alleged infidelities and abuse.

Bild, Germany's biggest paper, said: "This report gives added nourishment to the rumour that [Mr Putin] left in the spring of 1990 allegedly leaving an illegitimate baby behind."