Saturday, August 4, 2018

Putin Disliked Ukrainians Long Before He Seized Crimea, KGB Veterans Reportedly Say


Paul Goble

            Staunton, August 4 – 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. Vasily 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 Donbass, says he was in the service at that time and heard others say this and other negative things about the future Kremlin leader (apostrophe.ua/article/world/ex-ussr/2018-08-04/putin-esche-vo-vremya-slujbyi-v-razvedke-ploho-otnosilsya-k-ukraintsam-i-zakladyival-kolleg/19662).

            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 eirely plausible and perhaps even likely. But it is obviously indirect evidence at best and thus should be treated with caution. 

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