Little victorious war

“When I was studying at intelligence school, one of my characteristics was written down as a negative trait: “Reduced sense of danger.” And this shortcoming was considered very serious,” Putin said, not without coquetry, in his first biography Natalya Gevorkyan, Andrey Kolesnikov, Natalya Timakova. In the first person: conversations with Vladimir Putin, 2000 × , after which I repeated this story many times.

Over the ensuing decades, Russian propaganda has unearthed everything about the president that could make him look good, and lied on top of it. But she was unable to present the characteristics of a reduced sense of danger to the public. In order to highlight the president's courage, as a rule, two stories were used. You've probably heard about them. Now you have to find out that they are largely false.

The end of 1989 - the German Democratic Republic is living out its last months . Already at the beginning of next year, the governments of the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany begin negotiations on the unification of the two countries. The GDR officially ceased to exist in October 1990 . In Dresden, where Putin serves, there are massive street protests. People also break into the building of the Ministry of State Security (this, by the way, will help save part of the secret service’s archives from destruction), and then go to the KGB station.

Russian propaganda will call the episode that followed the “deed” of the young Lieutenant Colonel Putin, who (while his superiors were at a loss) remained in the building behind the elder and was forced to “go out to the crowd.” These events, as presented by servile journalists, have become overgrown with so many legends that now there are at least three contradictory versions. For example, in the 2012 version, viewers were told an almost biblical parable. 5 thousand “drunk Germans” allegedly burst into the KGB courtyard, then Putin went down to the crowd along 12 steps with a pistol, which had 12 rounds of ammunition, and said: “I am an officer, I have 12 rounds of ammunition, I will leave one cartridge for myself, but, fulfilling my duty, I will shoot,” after which he slowly climbed up the same 12 steps, turned around and found that the crowd had begun to disperse. Program Andrey Karaulov “Moment of Truth” / Channel Five, October 1, 2012 × . The authors of this nonsense were not even embarrassed by the fact that the standard magazine of the Makarov pistol, which was in service with KGB officers, contained 8 rounds.

Probably, such symbolism even seemed excessive to propaganda, and in the 2018 election film about Putin, Putin. Film by Andrey Kondrashov / Russia-1, 2018 × TV people decided to add evidence. In the film, a resident of the house next to the KGB building named Siegfried Dannat-Grabs speaks . For example: In Dresden they remember Putin the Resident / NTV, October 15, 2006 × : there were no five thousand besiegers, Putin was not going to shoot back personally, but scared the crowd by ordering the building’s guards to defend themselves with weapons in their hands. However, the president himself immediately appears on the screen and spoils everything: according to him, he introduced himself to the crowd as an interpreter. For what? Out of fear or for conspiracy purposes? And most importantly: how could the translator give orders that scared the crowd? As has already happened, the most honest version of events can be found in the earliest source on this topic - that very first biography of the president from 2000 by Natalya Gevorkyan, Andrei Kolesnikov, Natalya Timakova. First person: conversations with Vladimir Putin, 2000 × .

Putin said there that he actually went out to the crowd, introducing himself as a translator, but did not threaten anyone, and, having discovered that people were aggressive, he simply called the headquarters of the Soviet group of forces asking for help, which, however, did not arrive for a long time due to the confusion of Moscow. The crowd dispersed not because of his words, but only a few hours later, when the military finally arrived at the scene. “I then had the feeling that the country no longer existed. It became clear that the Union was sick,” was how Putin interpreted his experience in Dresden.