JRL NEWSWATCH: “Soldier, spy: more details of Vladimir Putin’s past revealed; Russian president, on a visit to a fortress, says he commanded a howitzer artillery battalion” – The Guardian/ Marc Bennetts

“… Putin has revealed that he commanded an artillery battalion during the Soviet period, a detail of his shadowy biography … previously unknown. … Putin’s official biography makes no mention of [it] …. According to the Kremlin, Putin joined the KGB immediately after graduating [in law] from … Leningrad State University in 1975. … [spending] 16 years … rising to the rank of KGB lieutenant colonel before the collapse of the Soviet Union …. … all able-bodied students at Soviet universities were required to undergo military training … receiv[ing] the rank of reservist officer …. Putin is known to have worked in counter-intelligence … [in the] KGB …. Some reports allege that his KGB duties included the surveillance of Soviet political dissidents, but these have never been confirmed. …”

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