Vladimir Putin served as a KGB officer in Dresden, East Germany, from 1985 to 1990, a formative period that shaped his worldview. Stationed in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), he operated under the cover of a translator, gathering intelligence and recruiting informants to counter NATO’s influence during the Cold War’s waning years. Dresden, a mid-sized industrial city, was far from the KGB’s main hub in Berlin, and Putin’s role was relatively junior, focusing on monitoring local officials and dissidents. His time there coincided with growing unrest, culminating in the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Putin witnessed the collapse of Soviet influence firsthand, including a tense moment when protesters stormed the Dresden KGB office, an experience that reportedly left him with a deep sense of humiliation and betrayal at the Soviet Union’s inability to maintain control.


During his years in East Germany, Putin developed a complex relationship with the German people. He learned fluent German, engaged with local culture, and lived among GDR citizens, giving him insight into their lives under socialist rule. While some accounts suggest he admired German discipline and efficiency, his primary loyalty was to Soviet interests, viewing East Germans as allies only insofar as they served Moscow’s agenda. However, the rapid unification of Germany and the GDR’s dissolution left Putin resentful, as he perceived the West—particularly NATO—as exploiting Soviet weakness to absorb East Germany. This period fostered a lasting distrust of Western intentions and a belief that Germany, once a divided nation under Soviet influence, had been co-opted by NATO’s expansionist ambitions, a sentiment that hardened his view of the German people as complicit in Western dominance.


These feelings have resurfaced in Putin’s current anger toward NATO, particularly over drone strikes targeting Russian strategic bombers, a campaign reportedly initiated under the Biden administration in late 2023. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed in April 2025 that U.S.-supplied drones, operated from Ukrainian territory, damaged Tu-95 and Tu-22M bombers at bases like Engels-2, with NATO’s intelligence support allegedly guiding the attacks. Putin views these strikes as a direct affront, echoing his Dresden-era resentment of NATO’s encroachment. His public statements, including a March 2025 address, frame Germany’s role in NATO—providing Taurus missiles to Ukraine and hosting U.S. military bases—as a betrayal of the restraint he believes Russia showed during Germany’s unification. This perceived ingratitude fuels his disgust, driving retaliatory actions like increased cyberattacks on German infrastructure, while his nostalgia for Soviet influence underscores his determination to challenge NATO’s dominance, even at the risk of escalation.